SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Orthopedic Surgery
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1613472
A Perspective on Arthroscopic Treatment for Anterior Ankle Impingement Syndrome: Clinical Research Insights
Provisionally accepted
- Affiliated Hospital of Yan'an university, Yan'an, China
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Anterior ankle impingement syndrome (AAIS) is a degenerative condition that causes anterior ankle pain and limited dorsiflexion, especially in athletes. It results from either osseous (osteophytes) or soft tissue (synovial hypertrophy, fibrosis) pathology.Although conservative treatments offer temporary relief, arthroscopic surgery has become the preferred approach due to its minimally invasive technique and surgical precision. Current evidence shows 80-90% success rates, with significant improvements in visual analog scale scores (mean reduction of 4.1 points) and American orthopedic foot & ankle society scores (mean increase of 28 points), along with low complication rates (2-7%). However, outcomes are closely linked to the severity of pre-existing osteoarthritis, with 93% success in non-arthritic joints compared to 53% in cases with moderate osteoarthritis. Key research limitations include heterogeneous study designs, small sample sizes, and a lack of long-term data (only 18.6% of studies report ≥5-year follow-up). Future research should focus on standardizing outcome measures, assessing the cost-effectiveness of advanced techniques, and establishing evidence-based protocols for patient selection and rehabilitation. These efforts will help optimize surgical decision-making and enhance long-term outcomes for patients with AAIS.
Keywords: anterior ankle impingement syndrome, Arthroscopic treatment, ankle disorder, Insight, perspective
Received: 23 Apr 2025; Accepted: 08 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zong, Feng and Bai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dong-yu Bai, Affiliated Hospital of Yan'an university, Yan'an, China
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