What is a navicular stress reaction?
What is a navicular stress reaction?
What Is a Navicular Stress Fracture? A navicular stress fracture is a crack or break in the navicular bone, which is a boat-shaped bone in the middle of the foot. These fractures often are due to overuse, ongoing forces, and/or stress on the bone rather than a sudden injury.
What does a stress reaction in the foot feel like?
Pain, aching, and tenderness that worsens during and after physical activity or movement. Relief from pain during periods of rest. Swelling on the ankle or top of your foot.
What does a talus stress fracture feel like?
Symptoms of a stress fracture of the talus develop gradully over time and include: Pain on the outside of the ankle. Symptoms get worse with exercise, particularly running, and ease with rest. There is likely to be tenderness and possibly swelling over the sinus tarsi.
Can you walk with a navicular stress fracture?
Pain with walking, running or jumping. Frequently, patients will initially have pain only after high-intensity activities like running or jumping. It can progress to pain with low-intensity activities, such as walking and eventually steady pain, even at rest.
How do you treat a stress reaction in your foot?
First Aid
- Rest. Avoid activities that put weight on your foot.
- Ice. Apply ice immediately after the injury to keep the swelling down.
- Compression. To prevent additional swelling, lightly wrap the area in a soft bandage.
- Elevation. As often as possible, rest with your foot raised up higher than your heart.
What causes stress reaction in foot?
Foot stress fractures are often caused by overuse or repetitive activities. Because of this, stress fractures are commonly seen in athletes, such as runners, soccer players, or dancers, but they can also be seen in normal people who have changed their daily activities.
How do you diagnose a talus stress fracture?
Pain in response to pressure is often the key for your doctor to diagnose a hairline fracture. MRI: The best imaging test for determining hairline fractures is an MRI. This test uses magnets and radio waves to provide images of your bones. An MRI will determine a fracture before an X-ray can.
Can you walk with a stress fracture in the foot?
It is important to rest your foot. Elevate your foot to decrease swelling and pain. Do not do the activity or exercise that caused your fracture. If walking is painful, your doctor may advise you to use crutches to help support your body weight when you walk.
How long do navicular stress fractures take to heal?
Determined by the degree of injury, return to play after tarsal navicular stress fractures is typically a minimum of 12 weeks, and can be longer. These injuries require a slow and gradual return to sports that is closely monitored by your doctor.
Can a stress reaction occur in the talus?
Also, stress reactions don’t normally occur on the talus since these microscopic fractures of bone are generally caused more in bones that are under significant bending moments, with the talus being subjected much more to compression stresses that would cause the MRI to show subcortical bone edema or bone marrow edema.
What are the signs and symptoms of navicular stress fractures?
Athletes with a navicular stress fracture typically report one or more of the following: Insidious onset of poorly localized midfoot pain with activity, perhaps lasting months (14). An alteration in gait pattern, which occurs to offload stress on the navicular.
Why is the navicular bone stressed at the central third?
As a result of this unequal distribution of forces, maximum sheer stress is concentrated at the central third of the bone. Moreover, contraction of the tibialis posterior tendon, which inserts on the navicular’s medial tuberosity elevates the medial stress experienced by the navicular.
What is the difference between navicular and metatarsal stress fractures?
Navicular stress fractures are difficult to diagnose early on and are at high risk of nonunion due to poor vascular flow, primarily in the middle third. These are common in basketball players and runners. They are usually tender on the navicular bone. Metatarsal stress fractures account for 9% of all stress fractures in athletes.
