Meniscoid lesions of the ankle in soccer players

Abstract

In 1950, Wolin and his colleagues described nine pa tients who exhibited a "meniscoid" lesion of the ankle. He used this term to describe a mass of hyalinized tissue that formed following an inversion sprain of the ankle. This band of tissue was predisposed to trapping between the fibula and the talus. His patients presented with persistent pain and swelling over the anterior aspect of the ankle.

In the last 3 years, four patients have presented with this lesion at the Methodist Sports Medicine Center in Indianapolis. They were all soccer players who had experienced repeated ankle sprains accompanied by persistent pain, swelling and trapping. Initially, these patients were treated with physical therapy, taping, and antiinflammatory medication. After 6 months of treat ment, they continued to have symptoms and underwent arthroscopic examination. In each case a band of white, fibrous tissue was found during surgery and was re moved. After an appropriate period of rehabilitation, all four patients returned to competition with a cessation of symptoms. However, one patient reported recurrent pain on rare occasions.