Arthroscopy means looking inside a joint. Through two or three small (about five millimetre) incisions, the surgeon inserts a camera and instruments to inspect, debride or repair structures inside the ankle joint. It is diagnostic — you can see exactly what is there, often more clearly than on MRI — and therapeutic — many of the things you find can be addressed in the same sitting. The most common reasons to do an ankle arthroscopy are anterior or posterior impingement (where bone or soft tissue gets pinched at the front or back of the ankle), an osteochondral lesion of the talus (a defect in the cartilage and underlying bone), loose bodies floating in the joint, synovitis, or removal of an os trigonum (an extra bone at the back of the ankle that causes pain in dancers and footballers). It is also routinely combined with other procedures — for example, an arthroscopic look at the start of an ankle ligament reconstruction is standard.

Because the incisions are so small, ankle arthroscopy is usually a day-case procedure with a faster, more comfortable recovery than open surgery. Most patients are walking in a supportive boot within a few days and back into normal footwear over the following weeks — though the exact timeline depends on what is found and treated inside the joint. A simple debridement recovers quickly, whereas a cartilage repair needs a longer period of protected weight-bearing to give the healing surface the best chance.