Background:

Chronic pain on the posterior portion of the ankle is often due to posterior impingement between bony or soft tissue structures. The presence of an os trigonum or a prominent posterior apophysis of the talus can produce this impingement. The purpose of this study was to assess the outcome of hindfoot endoscopy in patients with a diagnosis of posterior ankle impingement.

Material and methods:

We studied 24 individuals who underwent a posterior ankle endoscopic procedure during the period between 2008 and 2012, with the diagnosis of posterior ankle impingement. We analyzed variables such as: sport, level of sports activity according to the CLAS classification, return to sport. All patients were classified in accordance to the AOFAS and SFMCP (Société Française de Médecine et Chirurgie du Pied) scores for ankle pathology. We measured patient satisfaction to the procedure with the Linkert scale.

Results:

The average follow-up was 27.13 ± 5.26 months. The average age of our patients was 31.8 ± 5.26 years. We had 19 male (79.2%) and five female (20.8%) patients. The average preoperative Visual Analog Scale of pain (VAS) 5.75 and postoperative was 0.95. The average preoperative AOFAS scale of 76.22 ± 5.29 rose to 97.21 ± 1.96. The average preoperative SFCMP scale of 77.16 ± 3.53 became 98.54 ± 1.38. Our patients had their ankles immobilized for an average of 19.75 ± 2.48 days. They returned to their sports activities at an average of 4.6 (± 1.27) months. Our patients rated their personal satisfaction as very satisfied in 16 cases (66.7%), satisfied in seven cases (29.2%), regular satisfaction in one case (4.2%). One patient developed a complex regional pain syndrome that was resolved with physical therapy and another had a wound erythema.

Conclusion:

The posterior ankle impingement is a pathology which diagnosis is mainly clinical, it is greatly associated with an os trigonum or a large Stieda process. It has a strong repercussion in the sports activities of the patients. The arthroscopic treatment is an ideal option for this pathology as it presents a good postoperative recovery with a swift return to patients preoperative sports activities.