Biomechanics of asymmetric ankle osteoarthritis and its joint-preserving surgery

More than half of the patients with ankle osteoarthritis have a malalignment of the hindfoot. These patients might benefit from joint-preserving realignment surgery. This article provides an overview of the effects of asymmetric ankle osteoarthritis on the patients' biomechanical and neuromuscular gait patterns in comparison to data from healthy subjects. Furthermore, data from gait analyses after joint-preserving realignment surgery are presented that give an indication of the biomechanical and neuromuscular adaptations to supramalleolar osteotomies.