Echographic screening in the skater's foot

Introduction: The convergence of factors leading to skate friction on some areas of skater's feet during trainings provoke nodular injuries. Objectives: To explore and to describe the imaging features of these circumscribed excrecences present in the skater's feet as consequence of sports overuse. Methods: A cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in 100 young no-sportsmen (controls) and in the 15 members of the Cuban Pre-Selection of speed Skating in April, 2009 (10 boys and 5 girls), all of them with more than 10 years of systematic sports practice. Then underwent a diagnostic echographic examination in the Institute of Sports Medicine to assess the condition of articular and periarticular structures of this area and data were processed by descriptive statistics. Results: There were demonstrated echographic distortions in 100% of assessed sportsmen, mainly due to: circumscribed dermic thickening (100%), tendonitis (33,3%) and exostosis bursata (20%), manifestations included in an affection identified by authors as «skater foot» whose external clinical expression is the presence of retrocalcaneal nodules, dorsal and/or foot medial region. Conclusions: The skater's foot may be a disease entity with an imaging support and is related to direct and systematic friction of skate, characteristic of this sport and that not only involve the teeth's skin but it may to interfere with treatment or competence due to its association with other injuries.