During the 2013 AAOS annual meeting earlier this year, Dr. Silverman was interviewed on Hometown Radio on the topic of ankle instability. We’ve converted that interview into a video (below) for your viewing pleasure! A transcript of the interview is also listed below the video.
Video Transcription:
Interviewer: What might cause someone to have an unstable ankle?
Dr. Silverman: Most commonly, someone has an ankle sprain sometime previously in their life, whether they were running or just stepped on some rock or piece of uneven ground.
Interviewer: So what’s the effect of that over time?
Dr. Silverman: Well over time, people who have instability will develop a series of troubles. Sometimes they don’t even recognize they have instability. They’ll have ankle pain and they’ll try to avoid the things that bother them. They may have true ‘give way’ episodes, and just think that they’re klutzy or that their ankle is a trick ankle. They can develop ankle arthritis, tendon troubles, even knee and hip problems.
Interviewer: So what can be done to help these people?
Dr. Silverman: Generally I take two different approaches that are very successful. The first one is offering non-surgical treatment, which would include ankle bracing and physical therapy. There are other options that can be done at any time, such as fixing the ankle ligaments through reconstructive procedures. There are some very successful ones that have high rates of success across the country and especially in my patient population.
For more information on ankle instability, check out our ankle instability webpage.