News Story from WGN 9 News - Friday, October 31, 2008

New Ankle Repair

In tonight's Medical Watch - taking a stand against ankle injuries. A new procedure cuts healing time in half.

John Edwards, III, Lim Procedure Patient: "My ankles were a big problem."

Four years on the football field and John Edwards' ankles were shot.

John Edwards: "Started from a simple twist of an ankle, sprain in the ankle, stretching, slight tear and then completely ripped apart, no ligaments left in either ankle."

It's the same for soccer players, runners and other athletes. Once the ankle turns, it gets weak and turns into a vicious cycle of injury.

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Article from Chicago Tribune - Sunday, August 31, 2008

Back on the beam | Ankle procedure fine-tuned for speedier recovery

Anna Hunt's gymnastics career was on shaky ground.

Anna, now a 16-year old junior at Downers Grove South High School, rolled her ankle at a meet in December 2006, knocking her out of a club competition. She returned a month later, but the ankle wasn't right. She rolled it three more times in a matter of weeks - an all-to-common story with ankles, which tend to be reinjured easily.

When her ankle didn't improve by last summer, she underwent a procedure developed by a Chicago-area surgeon. Today, she says, "It hasn't bothered me since I had the surgery. It's like I had a completely new ankle put in."

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Article from The Naperville Sun - Tuesday, December 23, 2008

A new 'Lim' | Ankle surgeon gives another option for healing sprains

Spraining an ankle is easy to do - it's one of the most common injuries in the nation, affection 1 million Americans each year.

Recovering from a sprained ankle is more complicated. The ligaments and tendons connection the leg and foot bones get stretched and scarred and don't just snap back into their old positions like rubber bands, said Naperville foot and ankle surgeon Robert Lim.

That can result in pain and instability that can bench an elite athlete - or keep a father from playing with his kids in the yard. As a dad and former Division III college soccer player himself, Lim understood. He thought of a way to perform reconstructive surgery that quickly returns the ankle to pre-injury status.

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Article from Daily Herald - Monday, February 2, 2009

Putting the spring back in her step | Local doctor's exclusive fix for chronically injured ankles gets raves from patients, but colleagues want to see a study

Mallory Fisher first broke her left ankle in second grade when she slipped off a stool. A year or two later, she broke her right ankle rolling it off a low balance beam.

Years of subsequent injuries in gymnastics left Fisher with a pair of chronically weak, painful ankles.

As a 15-year-old gymnast and diver at Palatine High School, Mallory had to wrap and ice her ankles, and take Advil to reduce the pain and swelling, as if she were an aging prizefighter - and still her ankles would sometimes buckle.

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Feature in Chicago Magazine Top Docs Issue

Dr. Robert Lim | Foot & Ankle Specialist

To players and coaches, Dr. Robert Lim is an irreplaceable member of the team. His game changing care protects their biggest assets - fragile ankles and feet - and keeps athletes on the playing field. Dr. Lim's cutting edge work in sports medicine has made him one of the most sought after foot and ankle specialists in the nation and has propelled him to the forefront of his discipline.

Dr. Lim's revolutionary and exclusive Lim Procedure, that corrects lateral ankle instability (sprains), attracts patients across the sports spectrum because they can return to training again in as little as 4 weeks. That contrasts with a recovery time of 6 to 8 months following traditional, more invasive surgery. In the unforgiving world of elite sports, the difference has been career saving for many top athletes.

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