Question
I sprained my ankle in an accidental fall in early 2008. When I went to see the doc, he took X-rays and advised thatapart fromt he sprain in my left ankle, there was a bone growth in both my ankles towards the outer side of the foot. He said the deformity was due to my weight problem (I have a BMI of 31) and probably my weight had been putting pressure on my ankles thus causing the growth over many years. I am 30 yrs old, and had a BMI of 27 2 years ago before my daughter was born. Ever since my ankle injury, I have a pain in the bone that also sometimes extends to the outer side bones in my feet. I live in India where podiatry is not a specialist discipline and all doctors here advise is for me to let the bone be till it doesnt worsen as they think surgery to remove the growth will only cause further problems. Please advise what this could be and what I should do.  

Answer
This Elmhurst Podiatrist says...
Sounds like weight loss is an easier alternative than surgery. Weight loss is not easy and requires diet and behavior modification. You must have support from your household. If ones eats a lot it is difficult to sit with them and watch.
See if you can find an orthopedic surgeon to evaluate the ankle fracture correctly. If there is damage to the joint, then sometimes surgery may be indicated to help prevent more arthritis. Try to find a high top comfortable gym shoe with an ankle wrap. You can check out our website store at AnkleNFoot.com for examples of wraps and braces for ankles.
Check out our website's webstore at Anklenfoot.com for examples of above.
You can also take Advil or Alleve on the bad days until you lose the weight.
Should improve soon with most of the above recommendations.
Sometimes these ankle problems respond well with surgeries that just remove the bone spurs(growths). We as podiatry surgery experts do these surgeries-but a good orthopedic surgeon should be able to do same or better. Few years ago I met a surgeon who did excellent surgery for deformities of the feet from India- I don't remember his name, but the point is that you have areas where you can find an excellent orthopedic surgeon-Make sure that they do foot and ankle as a specialty to get the best second opinion.

Hope this helps!
Good Luck Again My Friend!

Dr George Tsatsos & Svetlana Zats
Podiatrist Chicago 60618 & Elmhurst 60126 Podiatrists
Board Certified in Foot and Ankle Surgery & Orthopedics
New South Loop Location-Chicago 60661
AnkleNFoot.com
Runnersdoc.com
BabyFootDoc.com

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