The injury risk associated with pes planus in athletes.

Despite the common prophylactic use of rigid orthotics in athletes with flat feet to prevent subsequent injury, there is little scientific data in the literature examining the relationship between pes planus and athletic injuries to the lower extremity. The current prospective study was undertaken to establish what relationship, if any, exists between foot morphology and subsequent lower extremity injury. A total of 196 subjects were enrolled in the study, of which 143 (73%) were male and 53 (27%) were female. Forty-two percent of the participants (83) engaged in contact sports. There were a total of 227 episodes of injury involving the lower extremity. Logistic regression using contact sports, gender, and all of the different foot contact areas that were measured at the beginning of the study was undertaken. Although gender and participation in contact sports was predictive of some lower extremity injuries, the existence of pes planus as measured by medial midfoot contact area as a percentage of total contact area was not a risk factor for any injury of the lower extremity. This study shows that in an athletic population that is representative of collegiate athletics, the existence of flat footedness does not predispose to subsequent lower extremity injury. The routine prophylactic use of orthotics in flat-footed athletes to prevent future injury may therefore not be justified based on the data available.

Tumoral calcinosis of the spine: a study of 21 cases.

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study was conducted to investigate 21 patients found during spinal surgery to have paraspinal masses of dystrophic calcification (tumoral calcinosis). OBJECTIVES: To determine the magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of this disorder, and to document the associated spinal pathology. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Tumoral calcinosis usually is associated with hereditary disorders of calcium metabolism or renal dialysis. It also occurs in degenerated tissues in the absence of systemic disorders. Characteristically, calcific masses in the appendicular skeleton are visible on plain radiographs. Tumoral calcinosis has only rarely been reported in the spine. Documented patients have had an obvious calcific mass, and almost always the disorder has existed in other locations as well. Careful histologic study of specimens removed during spinal surgery suggests that tumoral calcinosis is common in the spine and usually is secondary to preexisting pathology. METHODS: This study involved 21 patients with lesions of tumoral calcinosis identified by histopathologic analysis of specimens removed during spinal surgery. The magnetic resonance images and the plain radiographs of the patients were reviewed and correlated with their clinical histories. RESULTS: In all the patients, the lesion of tumoral calcinosis was associated with a mass lesion seen on magnetic resonance imaging. Calcific masses were not apparent on plain films. In no case was the mass diagnosed before surgery as tumoral calcinosis. The magnetic resonance imaging changes were variously misinterpreted as neoplasms, infections, extruded disc material, or cysts. The observed features of tumoral calcinosis were those of an extradural mass showing a heterogeneous mixed-signal lesion that was identical on T1- and T2-weighted images. Characteristically, gadolinium did not enhance the lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of tumoral calcinosis of the spine may prevent unwarranted diagnoses of a more serious lesion in patients with characteristic magnetic resonance imaging changes. Also, this awareness may prevent pathologists from interpreting lesional tissue as nondiagnostic when other diagnoses are suspected clinically. This process may be a manifestation of degenerative spinal disease that has become so dominant that the underlying processes are obscured.