Foot and Ankle Pathology in Children and Adolescents

Dear Colleagues, 

Pathologies of the foot and ankle are commonly encountered in children and adolescents. These types of injuries can account for up to 30% of visits to sports medicine clinics.¹ In the United States, greater than half of boys and one-quarter of girls in the 8-to-16-year-old age range engage in some sort of competitive, scholastic, organized sport during the school year.² Such activities are prone to overuse injuries and acute trauma.

Anatomical differences in the adolescent patient demand a firm knowledge of the normal development of the foot and ankle to understand age-specific injury patterns. Children and adolescents are skeletally immature compared to their adult counterparts. The presence of a growth plate, known as the epiphyseal plate, is a key distinguishing factor in developing musculoskeletal structures that is not seen in the adult population. The epiphyseal plate is less resistant to shear and tensile forces than the adjacent bony structures¹, predisposing younger patients to injury.     

Early diagnosis and intervention are crucial in preventing negative sequelae. An understanding of the developing foot and ankle, combined with sports-specific mechanisms of injury, can be instrumental in making the correct diagnosis and instituting the appropriate treatment. This Special Issue will be devoted to understanding commonly encountered foot and ankle pathologies in the adolescent population. Specific problems we address are ankle sprain, os trigonum, Jones fracture, tarsal coalition, syndesmotic ankle sprain, ankle fracture, metatarsal fracture, physeal fractures, Lisfranc injury, Sever’s disease (calcaneal apophysitis), and recurrent club foot, amongst other topics.

Dr. Albert Thomas Anastasio
Dr. Samuel B. Adams
Guest Editors

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• foot and ankle
• adolescent
• ankle sprain
• Achilles
• jones fracture
• osteochondral lesion of the talus
• growth plate
• tarsal coalition
• ankle fracture