Regardless of your age you can start having ankle arthritis symptoms at any time. It does tend to effect more athletic as well as sedentary types of people. Recognizing the symptoms will be helpful is finding out what treatment for ankle arthritis is best for you.
First let’s look at what the typical arthritic ankle symptoms are. We’ll break them up into list form. Remember, you don’t necessarily have to have all of the symptoms in order to have arthritis in your ankle. Look over these symptoms and then discuss the likelihood of arthritis with your primary care physician.
Symptoms of Ankle Arthritis
1. Pain around the ankle joint is one of the most common symptoms of arthritis of the ankle and is probably led you to this article in the first place. This tends to be the number one reason patients seek medical attention for their possible arthritis especially if they cannot recall a recent injury to the area.
2. Swelling around the joint is also a sign that you may possibly have arthritis of the ankle.
3. Irritation around the nerves of the ankle can cause a numbing or tingling sensation which are also prominent symptoms of ankle arthritis.
The doctor will diagnose ankle arthritis by the above named symptoms as well as do other diagnostic ankle arthritis testing. A hands on examination by the doctor as well as x-rays will be taken to diagnose ankle arthritis.
Arthritis of the Ankle Treatment Options
One basic treatment option for ankle arthritis is to change the type of shoes that you wear. Changing the entire shoe or having a special sole insert can do a lot to help ease the pain of arthritis. A shoe specialist can insert a rocker bottom sole to your shoe that has been shown to help with arthritis. Anti-inflammatory medications can also help arthritic pain. There are many arthritis pain relieving over the counter medications available.
An unfortunate method of keeping the arthritis from becoming too painful is to modify activity. This does not always mean you have to completely change your lifestyle, but in order to reduce pain you may have to reduce some high impact sports or exercise. Speak with your doctor about what type of activity limitation is best for you. Some people may require the use of an ankle brace to help relieve ankle pain as well as reduce arthritis severity.
Cortisone injections have also been used to treat arthritis of the ankle but some patients find the pain of the injection is not worth the benefit of the shot itself. This is purely opinion and is not always the case. But it is something you should be aware of.
Some people have more pronounced arthritis and may require surgical treatment for ankle arthritis. Ankle arthoscopy is a good option if the arthritis is not to severe. Once arthritis of the ankle has reached a certain level, ankle arthoscopy will not be of any benefit to you. Ankle arthoscopy is most often used when small bony spurs have formed around the ankle joint.
Ankle fusion surgery is when the worn out ankle joint is removed and pins are put in place to hold the joints together. This will severely limit the motion of the ankle. Ankle replacement surgery can also be done to help keep the movement of the ankle.
If you are experiencing pain in your ankle but have not had any recent trauma or injury to your ankle, you may likely have arthritis of the ankle. Speak to your doctor about this at your next appointment and allow him to perform an examination and diagnostic testing. After reading this you now know what to expect in case you do have arthritis of the ankle and the more informed you are about a condition the better you are at dealing with ankle arthritis if you do in fact become diagnosed with it.
Resources:
www.medlineplus.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.medicinenet.com
www.webmd.com
