Ankles — they’re easy to take for granted. But they help you walk, jump, and climb. So when they get arthritis:
“Patient gets pain, stiffness, swelling,” explained Dr. Lew C. Schon, an orthopedic surgeon at the Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy Medical Center.
An estimated 10,000 people get ankle replacements every year in the U.S., and Schon says his patented technique can help these new ankles last longer and with better overall outcomes.
And he has new data to back it up.
If medications fail, doctors may recommend surgery. But traditional surgical methods had inconsistent outcomes.
“In the 90s, a few came out that were quite good, better than what we had had before, but still having failures by eight to 10 years,” said Schon.
So he had a thought.
“I said, ‘Well, maybe, instead of waiting for someone to design something better, I should start to do it,’” Schon told Ivanhoe.
He installed the first Zimmer Biomet Trabecular metal total ankle replacement 13 years ago.
“That patient actually still has his ankle in and is doing well,” Schon said.
The 130 Zimmer patients still have implants intact 5-10 years after surgery. His technique has surgeons enter from the side of the ankle instead of the front, like in traditional methods, helping preserve more bone.
“We requested from the scientists that they use a different metal that would give us a better bonding,” Schon explained.
Recovery is similar to other methods.
“But what you can do during that time frame does differ because we allow them to do full weight bearing at two weeks,” Schon said.
Now he says 15,000 people walk around worldwide with his ankle design.
The doctor also says that, after surgery, it can take about six weeks to begin walking, and healing can take from six months to a year. The findings from the Zimmer study were released in June 2025 in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.