Retrospective review of 31 FHL tendon injuries in 26 patients over 16 years, comparing injury patterns, operative findings, and outcomes between classical ballet dancers and nondancers to characterize how mechanism and activity level shape FHL pathology.
When a dancer presents with chronic posteromedial ankle pain, think FHL partial tear and triggering — not just tenosynovitis — especially if symptoms have been present for over a year; nondancers with shorter symptom duration more often have isolated tenosynovitis that may respond to conservative care, but both groups do well with surgery when conservative management fails.
Retrospective review of 31 FHL tendon injuries in 26 patients over 16 years, comparing injury patterns, operative findings, and outcomes between classical ballet dancers and nondancers to characterize how mechanism and activity level shape FHL pathology.
When a dancer presents with chronic posteromedial ankle pain, think FHL partial tear and triggering — not just tenosynovitis — especially if symptoms have been present for over a year; nondancers with shorter symptom duration more often have isolated tenosynovitis that may respond to conservative care, but both groups do well with surgery when conservative management fails.