Bone Grafting

The surgeons at Center for Foot and Ankle Restoration utilize different techniques to treat certain injuries and conditions, including bone grafting. Bone grafting is a surgical procedure that uses transplanted bone to repair or rebuild damaged bones in the foot and ankle. It's a common procedure in orthopedic surgery used to treat fractures, fusions, and skeletal defects. Bone grafts are either taken from the patient (autograft) or taken from a bone donor (allograft). The best bone graft provides enough bone and healing with minimal problems for the patient.

Diagnosis:

Your foot and ankle surgeon may recommend bone grafting as part of certain procedures to improve the chances of your bones healing, but it is not always necessary. Bone grafting may be used on fractures that have not healed or fusion procedures (forcing two or more separate bones to grow together) involving the ankle, midfoot, big toe, or other foot/ankle joints.

Treatment:

• You will get anesthesia to make sure that you won’t feel any pain or discomfort during the procedure.
• Someone will carefully keep track of your vital signs, like your heart rate and blood pressure, during the operation.
• After cleaning the affected area, your surgeon will make a cut through the skin and muscle surrounding the bone that will receive the bone graft.
• In some cases, your surgeon will also make a different cut to harvest your bone graft. This might be from your hipbone, leg bone, or ribs. Using special tools, your surgeon will remove a small portion of bone.
• Your surgeon will insert the bone graft between the two pieces of bone that need to grow together. In some cases, your surgeon might secure the bone graft with special screws, rods, or plates.
• Your surgeon will make any other needed repairs.
• The layers of skin and muscle around your treated bone will be closed surgically and, if needed, around where your bone was harvested.

Recovery:

Recovery time after a foot or ankle bone graft depends on the size and location of the graft, the injury being treated, and other factors like your age and overall health. It can take anywhere from two weeks to three months, and the bone graft itself can take up to a year or longer to heal. You might experience intermittent pain and aches during this time, but this can be mitigated with pain meds.

Takeaway:

The main takeaway from bone grafting is that recovery from the procedure requires some time to heal, but that the bone will grow back stronger than before. Some pain may be involved in recovery, but this can be mitigated with pain meds and is not always par for the course. Please discuss with your doctor the pros and cons of bone grafting, where the bone will come from (from a donor or harvested from your body), and steps to ensure minimal pain and a speedy recovery.