By the way, doctor: Is ankle fusion my only option?
Fusion is one way to treat an ankle that's badly damaged by trauma or arthritis. Let's start, though, with a short anatomy lesson. Your ankle is the joint formed by the tibia (the shinbone), the fibula (that other, slender bone of the shin) and the talus, the large, notched bone that sits on top of the foot (see drawing below). It's basically a hinge that controls the up and down movement of the foot. If you point your toes up as far as you can and then point them down, you can feel the ankle joint moving. If you wiggle your foot side to side, the ankle isn't really involved — that movement is controlled by joints in the foot (subtalar and calcaneocuboid).
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