Osteochondritis

Osteochondritis Dessicans are lesions that usually cause pain and stiffness of the ankle joint and affects all age groups. Often, Osteochondritis usually follow a twisting type injury to the ankle.

Osteochondritis dissecans is an injury to the talus bone of the ankle joint. Because the ankle joint is so small, the amount of force that goes across the joint, with each step, has been estimated to be approximately 5-10 times a person’s body weight.As a result of this tremendous force that occurs in the ankle joint, relatively small injuries to the articular surface of the talus often result in chronically painful injuries.

Osteochondritis dissecans is the result of the isolated loss of blood flow to a portion of the talus bone. Usually this occurs in conjunction with a history of trauma. It is sometimes also known as an osteochondral fracture of the talus, chip fractureof the articular surface or a chondral fracture of the talus.

Osteochondritis may cause swelling and ankle pain. When immobilization of the injury doesn`t alleviate the problem, surgery is sometimes prescribed. The procedures usually involves removing the loose fragment of cartilage and bone from the ankle joint and placing small drill holes in the defect. The drill holes stimulate new blood vessels to fill the area and help form scar tissue to fill the defect.

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