Injury to the lateral ankle ligaments of athletes. A posttraumatic followup.

Twenty of 26 original athletes with injuries to the lateral ligaments of the ankle were reexamined 2 to 5 years following treatment. The functional quality of their anterior talofibular (TF) and calcaneofibular (CF) ligaments was tested by stress examination, using a commercially available stress device, and was compared with the results of stress examination, arthrography, and surgery at the time of injury. Surgically treated patients showed a 70% to 100% recovery of the functional properties of the lateral ankle ligaments on comparison with the contralateral, uninjured ankle. Of the six patients treated conservatively with elastic bandages and rest, only one had regained normal function, whereas the others showed minimal or no improvement. Isolated lesions of the anterior TF ligaments, when treated conservatively, may have only a slightly better prognosis than a combined lesion of both anterior TF and CF ligaments in the athletic population.