Long Term Functional Outcomes after Total Ankle Arthroplasty

Category: Ankle; Ankle Arthritis; Hindfoot Introduction/Purpose: In vivo gait analysis is the objective functional measurement compared to subjective patient-reported outcomes. Intermediate-term gait studies showed positive results of Total Ankle Arthroplasty (TAA). To date, there are no published Long-Term functional outcomes of TAA. Methods: Three-dimensional gait analysis with twelve-camera digital-motion capture system and double force plates recorded temporal-spatial (TS), kinematic (KM), and kinetic (KN) measures, in 33 patients who had STAR (28) or Salto Talaris (5) TAA, done pre-operatively and at intervals post-operatively, with last testing at a mean of 7.6 years. Almost half the patients had 8-13 year follow up. Results: Improvements were found in multiple gait parameters, with TS increases in cadence, (+9.5 steps/min; P