Reconstruction of the lateral ligaments: do the anatomical procedures restore physiologic ankle kinematics?

BACKGROUND: If conservative therapy fails, the standard treatment for chronic ankle instability is surgical reconstruction of the lateral ligaments. For the last seventy years, the tenodesis principles have been used for reconstruction. Recently however, surgical reconstructions--respecting the intact joint anatomy--have been developed, thus called "anatomical reconstruction principles".

METHODS: This study focused on the investigation of the range of motion of the ankle and the subtalar joint following anatomical reconstruction surgery. Three different types of anatomical reconstruction procedures were compared: Direct ligament repair, tendon graft and carbon-fiber implant.

RESULTS: All procedures restored the original range of motion of the subtalar joint, except for the plantarflexed/dorsiflexed positions. As for the talocrural joint, the tendon graft and the carbon fiber implant left a small laxity for movements of inversion/eversion and internal/external rotation. The direct repair procedure achieved a more accurate result and restored the physiologic kinematics almost completely. During each procedure the insertion points and the direction of the original ligaments were maintained. However, the different results for the procedure of direct ligament repair compared to the other two anatomical reconstruction procedures showed that this condition alone is not sufficient to perfectly restore the kinematics of the talocrural and subtalar joints. It is important to note that none of the procedures caused a restriction of the range of motion.

CONCLUSIONS: The maintenance of the range of hindfoot motion decreases the risk of osteoarthritis as well as chronic pain or problems for the patient to walk on uneven surface. Therefore, we believe that standard therapy for chronic instability of the ankle should include direct surgical reconstruction of the ligaments. If this direct procedure cannot be performed because of poor quality of the ligaments an alternative anatomical reconstruction procedure should be considered.