Have you been diagnosed with Chondral Injury to your Ankles? Have you experienced that locking of your ankles when you suddenly change in position? Well, that’s fairly common but should not be disregarded at all. Those seconds of pain are your body’s way of telling you that something is not perfectly fine. Let’s talk about the articular cartilage.
Articular cartilage is the smooth, shiny, white tissue covering the ends of the bones. Healthy joint cartilages make it easier to move, as they are the joints’ bearing surfaces which allow the bones to glide over each other with very little friction, keeping them from rubbing together. The articular cartilage can be damaged by even the normal wear and tear (degenerative), or by injury (i.e. traumatic falls, sudden change in direction while playing a sport). This can be from a small tear in the top layer to an extensive tear to the bone.
Articular cartilage lesions in weight-bearing joints often fail to heal on their own and may be associated with pain, loss of function and long-term complications such as osteoarthritis. The treatment for chondral injurys ranges from conservative, to arthroscopic and open surgeries (arthroscopic debridement, marrow-stimulating techniques, autologous chondrocyte transfers and implantation, and allografts), and would depend on the patient’s, age, etiology, grade, and quality of the lesion.