Posterior ankle impingement syndrome in dancers — a short-term follow-up after operative treatment

Abstract

Summary A typical disease entity in dancers is the posterior ankle impingement syndrome. After unsuccessful conservative therapy, 24 dancers with an average age of 21.9 years (16–34 years) were treated in the same way using an open surgical technique. Functional assessment of the surgical outcome was made after an average of 26.2 months (18–34 months) using a modified version of the clinical score. A very good outcome was achieved in 13 patients (54%), and a good or satisfactory outcome in five patients each (21% each). One patient (4%) had a poor outcome. The widely used term ‘os trigonum syndrome’ is not-recommended, as it is too readily associated with a therapeutically relevant pathological finding, i.e. one requiring surgical treatment. Rather, we recommend the use of the term ‘posterior ankle impingement’, in which the cause of impingement should also be stated in all cases.