Bone Injury Classification – Part 2: Sever’s disease to Iselins and back!

The collective group of injuries called the osteochondroses are also epiphyseal injuries. Osteochondrosis occurs when the blood supply to an epiphysis is interrupted. This causes an avascular or aseptic necrosis at the epiphysis with associated pain, restriction of activity and potential long-term damage to the epiphysis. The aetiology of the osteochondroses is poorly understood, however the conditions are usually associated with trauma and vascular insufficiency leading to disordered endochondral ossification.

DO not know your Salter Harris II from Osteochondtitis? Then you better read this.. and quick!!

This is such a huge and important topic, I have written it in four parts.
Fracture is the most commonly associated injury with bone, and the term is derived from the Latin fractura, to break. As a specialised connective tissue, bone responds in the same way to mechanical force or load as other connective tissue. If an applied force to bone exceeds its ability to withstand that force, then it will fail and a fracture will result. Read on...

Growing Pains: A descriptor for lazy or disinterested practitioners?

I have always hated the term “growing pains”, now apparently endowed with the official descriptor ..GP’s. I mean, what the hell does it MEAN? That it is normal to get pain as a child when you grow? That it should be ignored because it is a rite of passage through childhood? Maybe it is character building and will make the child a better adult? 

One thing I do know is that I am totally opposed to any term that attempts to paint pain as normal.

Ankle syndesmosis injuries are a very common issue in all codes of football.

But.. in Australian Rules Football, this is a big bogeyman, and can take what seems a simple injury, into the season ending realm! A new study sheds light on what to look out for!

In the lead photograph, we see the injury that lead to the immediate retirement of Collingwood Premiership Captain, Nick Maxwell.

Non resolving ankle pain?.. look for Osteochondral fractures

If your patient has non resolving pain around the ankle after an inversion event, this may be the culprit. Part 2 in a short series on injury to the talus.

Osteochondral Fractures: One of the most consistent causes of non-resolving pain after significant inversion injury, is an osteochondral fracture of the talar dome.  These may occur either in the posteromedial or anterolateral aspect of the talar dome and...

Fractures of the talus - miss this one at your peril

These are a difficult to diagnose sports injury, and they can manifest in many ways, but read on to make sure you understand how to recognise this tricky and often troublesome fracture.

There is a broad spectrum of possible fractures to the talus, however, in the athletic community these are mostly confined to osteochondral fracture of the talar dome or fracture of the lateral process of the talus secondary to inversion injury.  

Piriformis Syndrome - myths, magic and.. cricket balls??

I thought we might move a bit higher up the system today to examine what is literally a real pain in the butt!!

The diagnosis of Piriformis Syndrome arouses plenty of discussion and not a little bit of argument.

A pain right in my thigh!!!

Lateral thigh pain.. presumed to be related to the ITB, is one of the most enduring and argumentative problems in sports medicine..

Today we have the great privilege of tapping into the knowledge of Kiwi sports physio John Foster who runs a specialist sports physio and running injury clinic in Dublin, Ireland.