Trends in operative ankle ligament surgery in Finland between 1986 and 2018.

BACKGROUND

Ankle sprains are common musculoskeletal injuries. Until the 1990s, ankle ligament injuries were often treated operatively. The aim of this registry study was to determine how the change in treatment practice has affected the number of acute and elective ankle ligament surgeries in Finland.

MATERIAL: The data of ankle ligament injury patients operated between 1 January 1986 and 31 December 2018 was collected from the Finnish National Hospital Discharge Register.

RESULTS

A total of 33,770 ankle ligament injuries were repaired. The incidence of acute ankle ligament injury repair surgery has decreased nearly 80% over the last three decades. No increase in the number of late-stage ankle ligament injury repairs was found.

CONCLUSION

The number of acute and elective ankle ligament surgeries has remained low in the 2000s. This suggests that the occurrence of clinical instability after ankle sprains has not increased, even though acute-phase treatment has become conservative.