Physiotherapist Susie Burness put herself in her patients’ shoes when she was treated by a consultant she refers to for pain in her ankle.

Thirty-six-year-old Susie, who lives in South West London, noticed her left ankle swelling after prolonged periods on her feet or when she was doing box jumps in the gym. It then began to feel sore when she went downstairs and if she ran more than once a week.

Susie said: “As a physio I was able to get help from a sports medicine doctor I work with who ruled out any tendon involvement. I had an inkling my problem was something more joint related so I went to see Fortius Foot and Ankle Consultant Andy Roche at Fortius Clinic City in February last year. I trust Andy and his expertise. Andy and I refer patients to each other and he has always managed my patients very well.”

Andy arranged for Susie to have an MRI and some X-rays. The scans showed Susie had an osteophyte (bony spur) and fluid build-up in the bone marrow in her ankle. Andy initially gave Susie an injection to manage her symptoms as, due to work commitments, she was unable to book in for surgery until the summer.

She said: “The injection gave me relief from the pain and allowed time to prehab my ankle and work on my strength and control before surgery. After discussing it with Andy, I decided to have surgery as it was made clear that due to my symptoms and findings on the imaging that there was no real other option to improve things in the longer term.”

Susie had the surgery at Fortius Surgical Centre in Marylebone.

Andy said: “I performed an ankle arthroscopy (keyhole surgery) to clean up the joint and put some screws in an old stress fracture to support it. I did microfracture surgery on Susie’s tibia to stimulate the joint to heal and form scar tissue.”

Susie felt a bit sore after the surgery but was given painkillers to control the pain. For the following four weeks she had to use crutches and not put her foot down. She then started to walk on her foot and have physiotherapy.

“Four months after the surgery I was back to all my gym activities – including weightlifting – and on a return to running programme. I had no pain at all day-to-day or after exercise,” said Susie. “I’m very happy with my outcome. I know I still have work to do and need to be smart with my training, but I’m happy to be back running and to be pain free.”