Difficulty in Diagnosis and Treatment of a Navicular Fracture and Talar Osteochondral Fracture in an Adolescent Dancer: A Case Study
Faculty Mentor
John Gerber
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
10-5-2023 1:15 PM
End Date
10-5-2023 1:35 PM
Location
PUB 321
Department
Wellness & Movement Sciences
Abstract
The foot and ankle region is the most common area of injury in competitive dancers. In adolescent competitive dancers, 53.4% of the injuries occur at the foot and ankle (Gamboa, et al., 2008). Tarsal navicular stress fractures are often difficult to diagnose and may cause significant disability particularly in athletic individuals (Saxena, et al., 2006). Left untreated, it can result in a complete fracture, arthrosis, and possibly avascular necrosis due to low blood supply. Osteochondral lesions of the talus are frequently described as an uncommon diagnosis that is a difficult pathologic entity to treat (Steele, et al., 2018). Like navicular fractures, these are also difficult to diagnose and treat. This case report describes challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of a 17-year-old female high school competitive dancer who sustained a combination injury of both a navicular fracture and osteochondral fracture of the talus. In her case, she returned to full activity without symptoms following surgical treatment of the navicular fracture, conservative management of the osteochondral lesion, and several months of post-operative rehabilitation.
Recommended Citation
Garcia, Arcelia; Cox, Dionna; and Gomez, Eric, "Difficulty in Diagnosis and Treatment of a Navicular Fracture and Talar Osteochondral Fracture in an Adolescent Dancer: A Case Study" (2023). 2023 Symposium. 10.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2023/res_2023/os3_2023/10
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Difficulty in Diagnosis and Treatment of a Navicular Fracture and Talar Osteochondral Fracture in an Adolescent Dancer: A Case Study
PUB 321
The foot and ankle region is the most common area of injury in competitive dancers. In adolescent competitive dancers, 53.4% of the injuries occur at the foot and ankle (Gamboa, et al., 2008). Tarsal navicular stress fractures are often difficult to diagnose and may cause significant disability particularly in athletic individuals (Saxena, et al., 2006). Left untreated, it can result in a complete fracture, arthrosis, and possibly avascular necrosis due to low blood supply. Osteochondral lesions of the talus are frequently described as an uncommon diagnosis that is a difficult pathologic entity to treat (Steele, et al., 2018). Like navicular fractures, these are also difficult to diagnose and treat. This case report describes challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of a 17-year-old female high school competitive dancer who sustained a combination injury of both a navicular fracture and osteochondral fracture of the talus. In her case, she returned to full activity without symptoms following surgical treatment of the navicular fracture, conservative management of the osteochondral lesion, and several months of post-operative rehabilitation.
