ARTICLE SUMMARY:
After years of stagnation, the foot and ankle surgery field is flourishing, thanks to huge unmet need, innovation, and aggressive marketing by emerging, focused manufacturers.
Technological and procedural advances in foot and ankle surgeries, including sports- and trauma-related injuries, are facilitating minimally invasive surgeries and more precise treatments. (See “Large Market, Small Joint: Examining Growth, Innovations, and M&A in the Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Market,” MedTech Strategist, August 4, 2022.) We reached out to industry and surgeons to learn more.
Foot and ankle is the fastest-growing sector of orthopedics, representing a $4.3 billion global market in 2021 ($2.3 billion in the US), with a CAGR of 7%, according to Paragon 28 Inc., a publicly-held Englewood, CO-based manufacturer focused entirely on the sector. This is due to an aging population, an increasing desire of patients to 
lead more active lives, higher incidence of obesity and diabetes, and the introduction of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics, as well as the use of patient-specific treatments (see Figure 1.)
