Management of difficult stress fractures in sport

Drs. M.P. (Rien) Heijboer, orthopedic surgeon, works at the Dept at Orthopedic at the Erasamus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. He has extensive experience with sports-related injuries and has worked for more than 30 years as medical adviser of football club Feijenoord in Rotterdam. He is a member of the medical staff of the Dutch National Soccer Team and visited the world soccer championships in Brasil in 2014, which he describes as a "life-time experience"! He is president of the Dutch Orthopedic Society (NOV). He has a great interest in sports-related injuries and today Rien discusses his lifetime experience of managing difficult stress fractures in sport. Further reading: Surgical versus conservative treatment for high-risk stress fractures of the lower leg (anterior tibial cortex, navicular and fifth metatarsal base): a systematic review. http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/6/370.long Mallee WH, Weel H, van Dijk CN, van Tulder MW, Kerkhoffs GM, Lin CW. Br J Sports Med. 2015 Mar;49(6):370-376. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2013-093246. Epub 2014 Aug 19. Review. Ultrasonography of fractures in sports medicine. http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/3/152.long Hoffman DF, Adams E, Bianchi S. Br J Sports Med. 2015 Feb;49(3):152-60. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2014-094217. Epub 2014 Dec 24. Fifth metatarsal fractures among male professional footballers: a potential career-ending disease. http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/12/754.long Ekstrand J, van Dijk CN. Br J Sports Med. 2013 Aug;47(12):754-8. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2012-092096. Epub 2013 Apr 9.