Today I was at home because of Covid-19 restrictions at Duke Hospital. I spent the day researching the uses of ankle fusions. An ankle fusion is when a plate is surgically inserted at the ankle joint and the cartilage of the joint is removed. This causes the bones involved in the joint to grow together which will no longer allow for movement in the ankle. An ankle fusion is most commonly used when there is a serve injury to the ankle joint or there is arthritis in the ankle joint. For example, I met with a patient that had a gun shot wound to the talus causing massive amounts of damage in the ankle joint. The ankle was fused to allow for the talus to heal and to stop the pain that was being caused by a damaged talus. After an ankle fusion, the patient will no longer have a wide range of motion in their foot, however, they will still be able to walk and they will no longer be in pain.
The image above shows two different ways that the ankle can be fused.