Effect of simultaneous bilateral surgery or simultaneous arthroscopic ankle lateral ligament repair in hindfoot endoscopic surgery for posterior ankle impingement syndrome in athletes.

BACKGROUND: Posterior ankle impingement syndrome (PAIS) is sometimes complicated by bilateral cases and lateral ankle ligament injuries. Reports on bilateral surgery for PAIS and simultaneous surgery for lateral ankle ligament injury are scarce in the literature.

METHODS: We present a 2-year follow-up of 76 athletic patients who underwent endoscopic hindfoot surgery for PAIS. Patients were divided into those who underwent unilateral or simultaneous bilateral surgery and PAIS surgery alone or simultaneous bilateral PAIS surgery without arthroscopic ankle lateral ligament repair.

RESULTS: All patients returned to full athletic activities postoperatively. There was no difference in all subscales of the SAFE-Q score between groups except for mean days after surgery for full return to athletic activities.

CONCLUSION: Simultaneous bilateral surgery and simultaneous arthroscopic lateral ankle ligament repair had no negative effect on subjective clinical evaluation 2 years after surgery in hindfoot endoscopic surgery for PAIS.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III, retrospective case-control study.