Ankle Pain
Non-Surgical Options For Ankle Pain Care
Ankle Pain
If you have a medical history that includes chronic ankle sprain and instability and/or one or more arthroscopic procedures, typically you will be looking for options to surgery. These surgeries may include ligament repair, an ankle fusion, or a total ankle replacement.
In our over 25 years of helping people with ankle pain and instability, we have seen many patients with a diagnosis of:
Chronic ankle sprains and instability
Ankle and hindfoot disorders
Post-traumatic ankle injury.
Ankle ligament damage.
Achilles and ankle tendon weakness.
Many people we see have failed conservative care treatments.
For some people, conservative care options can be very successful. For others these treatment’s effectiveness may have worn off if they were effective at all.
Painkiller prescriptions
Daily anti-inflammatory usage
Physical therapy
Botox injection
Hyaluronic acid injection
Various ankle braces, tapes, sleeves and boots
These treatments continue to be prescribed until eventually an MRI will reveal enough damage to recommend a surgery.
Treatment Options For Ankle Pain
While there are many claims made about the effectiveness of regenerative medicine approaches, a custom rehabilitation program and expectation of treatment outcomes can help patients understand the realistic chances of seeing improvement. Many people who seek regenerative medicine have already been advised to consider surgery. For some of these people surgery will be very effective. But, as with any medical treatment, surgery can have its undesired effects. Even successful surgery can require months of physical therapy and diminished function.
Bone Marrow Concentrate
Bone marrow concentrate or bone marrow aspirate concentrate is the injection into the damaged, injured area of the ankle. The injection contains stem cells that have been drawn from the patient’s own bone marrow. These cells are “de-differentiated pluripotent” cells, which mean that they continue to divide to create more cells that can “morph” into the tissue needing repair—for our purposes, collagen needed for cartilage, ligaments, tendons and bone.
Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy
PRP treatments are injection treatments. The treatments are derived from your own healing and growth factors found in your blood. The treatment involves collecting a small amount of your blood and concentrating it in a centrifuge to separate the blood platelets from the red blood cells. The collected platelets are then injected back into the injured area of the back to stimulate healing and regeneration to the soft tissue structures that stabilize the ankle.
We do get many emails about ankle pain. Some people write that they are debating an ankle fusion, sometimes in both ankles because they are bone on bone and have lost all the cartilage in their ankle, can we help? To assess your situation we would need to know:
- How much range of ankle motion do you have? Can you rotate it or is your ankle locked in place by bone spurs?
- Do you have a history of traumatic injury?
- Do you have a history of chronic ankle sprains?
- How is your walking?
Please feel free to contact us so we can start an assessment of your situation and your candidacy for treatment.
Articles that may help answer your questions:
Relieving Your Ankle Pain
Dr. Marc Darrow, MD, JD., treats pain with non-surgical methods. These treatment methods described above can help many people alleviate pain and restore function. Please contact Dr. Darrow so we can begin our assessment of your candidacy for treatment.