Need a relaxing weekend activity? Check out Florence Joyner Olympiad Park in Ladera Ranch. FloJo Park was created to honor the 1984 games in LA, and named for this former Ladera Ranch resident, the first American woman to win 4 medals in one Olympiad (1988, Seoul). Of course, if you have an injury like an ankle sprain, you won’t be wandering around parks anytime soon. In fact, if the damage is bad enough, you may be looking at surgery for an ankle sprain. Most of the time, this will not be needed, but there are a few cases where your ankle may not heal properly without it.
Ankle sprains are slotted into three categories. Most of these injuries heal quite well with conservative treatments. Usually only a grade 3 sprain with a tendon rupture may need surgical repair, and even then, not many of them do. Here are a few exceptions:
- If the ligament joining your tibia and the talus bone is ruptured badly enough that the ankle mortise (where talus inserts between the two leg bones) is spreading apart
- If a ligament on the inside of your ankle ruptures and gets caught between moving bones or allows the ankle mortise to widen
- When young athletes tear both the ligament between the two leg bones and the one between the fibula and heel bone, making the ankle very unstable, surgery brings the best result.
There is only one way to determine if your ankle sprain needs surgery: a visit to an expert. In Ladera Ranch, CA, your best choice is to let the podiatrists at Southern California Foot & Ankle Specialists on Medical Center Road evaluate your injury. We’ll take X-rays (and other imaging tests if necessary) to pinpoint the damage and design the best treatment plan for it. We want to help your ankle heal as fully as possible, so you can regain full use and make future problems with the ankle less likely. Call us at (949) 364-9255 for an appointment, or schedule right on our website.