The ankle jointjointThe junction or articulation of two or more bones that permits varying degrees of motion between the bones. is a commonly injured jointjointThe junction between the ends of two adjacent bones. in the body. While ankle fractures and ankle sprains can heal well, they can also lead to problems much later in life. This is due to the wear and tear that occurs for years after the injury. This condition is called post-traumatic arthritisarthritisJoint inflammation. The term trauma means injury, and the term post-traumatic arthritisarthritisInflammation of a joint or joints resulting in pain, swelling and stiffness. is used to describe the condition of the arthritis after injury.

Degeneration is a term that describes a condition where something wears out over time. The term degenerative arthritisdegenerative arthritisDisease that leads to the gradual deterioration of a joint; also called Osteoarthritis. is used by doctors to describe a condition where a joint wears out, usually slowly over a period of many years. The term arthritis means inflammationinflammationA local response to injury due to a physical reaction (such as abrasion), or to chemical or biological agents,... of a joint, so the term degenerative arthritis means inflammationinflammationA localized tissue response initiated by the injury or destruction of vascularized tissues. Inflammation Heat,... of a joint due to wear and tear. Degenerative arthrosis is another way to describe this condition. The term arthrosis is used to describe the condition of a worn out joint. The term arthritis is used to describe the true inflammatory conditions such as gout, infection and rheumatoid arthritisrheumatoid arthritisGeneralized inflammatory joint disease..

OsteoarthritisOsteoarthritisArthritis characterized by erosion of articular cartilage, either primary or secondary to trauma or other cond... is usually considered a type of degenerative arthritis, or wear and tear arthritis. Doctors usually consider osteoarthritisosteoarthritisArthritis characterized by erosion of articular cartilage, more common in older people. much the same whether it appears years after an injury to the joint or whether it simply appears without any history of injury. Over the past several years, there has been increasing evidence that osteoarthritisosteoarthritisArthritis typically with onset during middle or old age that is characterized by degenerative (gradual deterio... is genetic, meaning that it runs in families. Research suggests that osteoarthritis that occurs without any injury may be related to differences in the chemical makeup of the articular cartilagearticular cartilageA resilient tissue that covers the surface of bones where they meet in a joint. The cells of articular cartila... with which people are born.

Injury to a joint, such as a bad sprainsprainPartial or complete tear of a ligament. or fracture, can cause actual damage to the articular cartilagearticular cartilageCartilage that covers the articular surfaces of bones.. The cartilage can be damaged by bruising when too much pressure is exerted on the cartilage surface of a joint. This damages the cartilage. The injury to the material doesn‘t show up until months later. Sometimes the cartilage surface is damaged even more severely and pieces of the cartilage are ripped from the boneboneThe hard tissue that provides structural support to the body. It is primarily composed of hydroxyapatite cryst....

These pieces do not heal back and usually must be removed from the joint surgically. If not, they may float around in the joint causing the joint to catch and be painful. These fragments of cartilage may also do more damage to the joint surface. The areas from where these pieces of cartilage are ripped do not normally grow back. Unlike boneboneThe hard tissue that provides structural support to the body. It is primarily composed of hydroxyapatite cryst..., the holes in the surface are not simply replaced by the cartilage tissuetissueA collection of similar cells and the intercellular substances surrounding them. around the hole. Instead the defects are filled with scar tissue. The scar tissue that forms is not nearly as good a material for covering joint surfaces as the cartilage it replaces. It just can‘t support weight bearing like true articular cartilage.

An injury to a joint, even if it does not injure the articular cartilage directly, can alter how the joint works. This is true for a fracture where the bone fragments heal slightly different from the way they were before the break occurred. It is also true that when ligaments are damaged it leads to instability in the joint. When an injury results in a change in the way the joint moves, the injury may increase the forces on the articular cartilage. This is very similar to any mechanical device or machinery. If the mechanism is out of balance, it wears out faster.

Over many years, imbalance in the joint can lead to damage to the articular surface. Since articular cartilage cannot heal itself very well, the damage adds up. Finally, the joint is no longer able to compensate for the increasing damage and it begins to hurt. The damage is occurring well before the pain begins.