In patients who are resistant to first-line physical therapy such as eccentric loading, ABI or PRP injections are useful second-line therapies to improve clinical outcomes. In this study, up to seven out of 10 additional patients in this difficult to treat cohort benefit from a surgery-sparing intervention.

This is a retrospective review of the presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of 19 patients who injured the tarsometatarsal joint of the foot during athletic activity. Diagnosis by clinical and radiographic examination was supplemented by stress fluoroscopy of the articulation under anesthesia. Injuries were classified as either a first- or second-degree sprain of the tarsometatarsal joint, a third-degree sprain (with diastasis between the metatarsals or cuneiforms), a fracture, or frank dislocation. Poor functional results were seen in those for whom diagnosis was delayed and for whom the injury was not treated adequately. Three patients were unable to return to sports, one of whom eventually required fusion of the tarsometatarsal joint. The third-degree sprains were indistinguishable from fracture and fracture-dislocations in that good results were not reliably obtained by nonoperative treatment, and both classes of injury seem to require open reduction and internal fixation for optimal return to function. The delay in return to full activity is a marker of the severity of this injury despite an often benign appearance on radiograph.

Autologous blood injection is a primary technique for the treatment of lateral epicondylitis. Sonography can be used to guide injections and monitor changes to the common extensor origin.

Skin-derived tenocyte-like cells can be cultured in the laboratory to yield a rich preparation of collagen-producing cells. Our pilot study suggests that these collagen-producing cells can be injected safely into patients and may have therapeutic value in patients with refractory lateral epicondylitis.

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