[Treatment of fresh fibular capsular ligament lesion]

340 patients with ruptures in the region of the fibular ligaments at the ankle joint could be followed up clinically and by x-ray after an average period of 3.4 years following trauma and treatment. Significantly better treatment results were seen in the group of 246 patients who had primarily been treated by surgery (77% very good to good) than in the group of 94 patients who had been treated conservatively (41.5% very good to good). On the basis of our own follow-up results, the international literature and with particular reference to the experiences collected in sports orthopedics and sports traumatology, it continues to seem imperative to arrive at an individual indication in each case as to whether a rupture of the lateral ligaments at the ankle joint should be treated by surgery or not; the results we have reviewed point to a generally more favorable outcome of surgical treatment than of the conservative approach.