Tarsal coalition in the young athlete

Abstract

Twenty young athletes with tarsal coalition were studied. There was a total of 26 feet including 15 cases of calcaneonavicular bars, 9 cases of talocalcaneal bars, 1 talonavicular bar, and 1 mixed. Twenty-five feet had bar resection. Calcaneonavicular bar resection is the recommended procedure for the adolescent who presents with a painful tarsal coalition. The talocalcaneal synostosis resection has been mentioned in the literature as yielding poor results. This was not true in my series. The eight cases of talocalcaneal coalition presented all had improvement in motion and decreased pain after surgical excision of the bar.