From highschool to this last Father's Day, I had sustained 8 *major* ankle sprains (3rd degree sprain or higher) and the ankle was so slack and weakened that it was rolling over on me while walking across flat, smooth pavement on parking lots.
So, after dealing with this for over 15 years, I got sick of it, and had them clean it up (scope out the joint for scar tissue and bone spur removal), check for cartelidge (sp?) damage and fix, and then take the slack out or repair my ligaments on hte outside of my ankle...
should have taken 2 hours, it took 3, and my wife said the Doc looked exhausted when he came out. Apparently, my ankle was pretty trashed!
So, now I'm in a soft cast for a few weeks, then a hard, walking cast foe 3 weeks, then a boot, then a splint. Rehab to start after the hard cast removal.
Fun times ahead... but if it means my ankle will be more stable, then I'm considering it time and effort well spent.