Post Traumatic Arthritis Case Paper

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Assessment: The patient has developed painful post traumatic arthritis to the left ankle. She has large osteophytes to the anterior ankle joint causing impingement and pain with active range of motion. The left ankle fracture is well healed by x-ray evaluation. The most likely diagnosis is post-traumatic osteoarthritis after an open fracture dislocation of the left ankle 20 years ago. In a fracture dislocation of the ankle, the exposed cartilage can be disrupted and lead to osteoarthritis. In this case osteophytes formed, causing ankle impingement and pain. The less likely diagnoses are tendonitis, gout or rheumatoid arthritis since the left ankle joint is not warm, the patient does not have a fever, have rheumatoid nodules in any joint, and …show more content…
Due to this, the bio-mechanics of the affected joint causes degenerative changes in the joint compartment. Therefore, post-traumatic arthritis can occur in any joint of the body but typically occurs in the hips and knees. Fortunately, joint replacement for hips and knees has been successfully implemented and researched so that failure rates are known to the Family Nurse Practitioner. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis is caused by a physical or mechanical injury to a joint commonly from a car or motorcycle accident, a sports injury, or another physical trauma. The symptoms of post-traumatic osteoarthritis include joint pain, swelling, stiffens, instability, bone spurs, joint deformity and difficulty walking (Weatherall, Mroczek, McLaurin, Ding & Teiwani, 2013). The osteoarthritis causes the patient to have decreased ability to stress the joint which occurs in walking, climbing stairs or engaging in sports or recreation activities. Treatment for post-traumatic osteoarthritis is physical therapy and utilizing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) for reduction of inflammation and swelling as well as bracing. (Weatherall, Mroczek, McLaurin, Ding & Teiwani, 2013). Because of the potential for gastrointestinal side effects, topical NSAIDs like Voltaren gel is prescribed rather than an oral NSAID. However, in this case since the patient is an operative candidate, cortisone injections are not indicated since intra-articular injections have been linked with tendon rupture, cartilage damage and soft tissue atrophy (Daftary & Karnik,

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