Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (“OA”) in the ankle is the most common form of OA occurring in the ankle joint. Degeneration is usually caused by malalignment in the joint, resulting from bony or soft tissue injury (e.g. fracture or recurrent sprains), leading to asymmetric loading in the joint and degeneration of the cartilage. Once the cartilage is lost, the bone-on-bone articulation deforms the articular surfaces of the joint through plastic deformation and osteophyte formation and alters joint kinematics.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds