The Influence of Resilience on Outcomes after Total Ankle Arthroplasty

Category: Ankle Arthritis; Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Resiliency is the ability to recover from stressful events and has been shown to correlate with patient outcomes following certain orthopaedic procedures. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between resiliency and outcomes following TAA. Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients undergoing primary TAA between April 2015 and September 2022 was performed (N =83). Data included demographics, comorbidities, complications, pre- and post-operative visual analog scale (VAS) pain and Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM) functional scores, Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) scores and surgical satisfaction. Patients were defined as having low resilience (LR), normal resilience (NR), or high resilience (HR) based on a BRS score of < 3, 3-4.30, and > 4.3, respectively. Results: High resilience patients had significantly higher postoperative FAAM ADL, Sports, and Overall scores as well as a significantly greater increase from preoperative scores compared to LR and NR patients. Low resilience patients had significantly lower FAAM Sports and Overall scores compared to normal and high resilience patients. BRS scores positively correlated with postoperative FAAM scores. We found no difference in satisfaction or VAS between the three cohorts. Conclusion: Although functional improvements following TAA are expected, those patients with HR at baseline are more likely to experience greater improvements in functional outcomes following surgery.