Imaging of the foot and ankle in the injured athlete

Abstract

Currently the availability of magnetic resonance imaging has replaced much of the arthrotomography and CT scanning. The increased soft tissue contrast provided by MRI allows its use in assessing tendinous, ligamentous, cartilaginous, and in particular subtle bone marrow changes, which before its inception were never directly imaged. This article covers some of these dramatic changes and will provide the sports medicine clinician an update on current imaging techniques available to them with regard to foot and ankle injuries. Imaging of the foot and ankle has undergone a dramatic change over the last decade. The sports medicine clinician's understanding of these changes as well as the new imaging modalities available to them are of paramount importance in treating today's athlete. Modalities available in the 1970s and 1980s were usually limited to plain radiographs to be followed by bone scanning, arthrotomography, or CT scanning.