Objective:To analyze the effect of systematic exercise with a self-designed foot-ankle exerciser on postoperative ankle function in patients with tibial pilon fracture.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted of the 84 patients with tibial pilon fracture who had been treated by open reduction and internal fixation at Nanhua Hospital Affiliated to Nanhua University from May 2018 to January 2020. According to the difference in rehabilitation, they were divided into a control group ( n=42) which were subjected to staged functional rehabilitation after operation and an observation group ( n=42) which was subjected to systematic exercise with a self-designed foot-ankle exerciser. In the control group there was 26 males and 16 females with an age of (36.6±4.8) years (from 20 to 55 years); in the observational group there were 27 males and 15 females with an age of (36.4±4.5) years (from 21 to 57 years). The 2 groups were compared in terms of postoperative recovery, ankle functional recovery, postoperative quality of life, and rate of complications. Results:The 2 groups were comparable due to the insignificant differences in their preoperative general data ( P>0.05). The time for first ambulation [(3.7±0.3) weeks], time for fracture union [(9.1±0.8) weeks], and time for full-weight bearing [(6.5±0.9) weeks] in the observational group were all significantly shorter than those in the control group [(4.1±0.5) weeks, (10.9±1.2) weeks and (7.2±1.1) weeks] ( P<0.05). The good to excellent rate of ankle functional recovery was 92.9% (39/42) for the observational group, significantly higher than that for the control group (73.8%, 31/42) ( P<0.05). The scores for postoperative quality of life in the observational group were significantly higher than those in the control group in dimensions of material, psychology, society and body ( P<0.05). The rate of total postoperative complications in the observational group was 2.4% (1/42), significantly lower than that in the control group (10.9%, 8/42) ( P<0.05). Conclusions:For patients with tibial pilon fracture undergoing the same surgical procedures, systematic exercise with our self-designed foot-ankle exerciser can promote functional recovery of the ankle joint, improve postoperative quality of life, and reduce incidence of postoperative complications.