Tendinopathies of the foot and the ankle : from the anatomy to the clinic

Abstract

The tendons of the foot and the ankle are divided into four compartments (posterior, medial, lateral and anterior). They can be the seat of tendinopathies. The term of "tendonopathy" was proposed in 1998 to group the clinical syndrome defined by pain, tendon edema and functional disability. Tendinopathies can be of traumatic origin, inflammatory and we speak about tendinitis, mechanical by hypersollicitation or iatrogenic. The diagnosis of these tendinopathies requires a precise knowledge of the basic anatomical notions and is based on three positive signs, which are the direct tendon palpation pain, passive tendon stretching pain and pain in the contraction of the muscle. The calcaneal tendonopathy is the most frequent.