Orthopedics Today interviews Scott J. Ellis, MD, foot and ankle surgeon at HSS about results of a study that indicate the cervical ligament in the subtalar joint may need further examination in foot reconstruction surgery, especially in patients with flatfoot deformity. 

“Basically, what we found is that the flatfoot patients had compromise of the spring ligament more than our control patients and the worse the cervical and spring ligaments became, the worse deformed the foot was, particularly in abduction,” Dr. Ellis said about the study, which was a Roger A. Mann award finalist at the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Annual Meeting.  

“The take-home is that, going forward, we're going to have to start looking at the cervical ligament,” Dr. Ellis added. We need to study it more, and we're going to need to develop techniques to recreate or reconstruct that ligament as part of our flatfoot reconstructive surgeries. And my guess is that, over time, this is going to help increase or improve our patient outcomes with that surgery."

Read the full article at healio.com.