Physical Therapy Exercises For Accessory Navicular Syndrome

Overview
Accessary bone syndrome affects overpronators because of irritation in this area. Improper fitting shoes can also irritate the area. When pain becomes such that it changes running form or becomes intolerable, something needs to be done. Surgery alone without addressing causative factors is useless. Pain returns and new cartilage returns in the tendon, and the inflammation causes pain.



Causes
Let us see the reasons why the tendon or the bone would get aggravated. Ankle or foot sprain, irritation of the bone caused by footwear, overusing the foot, quite common in athletes and dancers. People born with this extra bone are also known develop flat feet which also adds to the strain on the posterior tibial tendon and lead to the syndrome.

Symptoms
The main symptom of an aggravated accessory navicular is pain, particularly in the instep. Walking can sometimes be difficult, and tight shoes may worsen the condition.

Diagnosis
It is important to examine the posterior tibial tendon and measure the extent of pain to this tendon proximal to the navicular bone. You can clinically determine the amount of posterior tibial tendon involvement by assessing the degree of swelling, pain on palpation and strength. To evaluate the patient?s strength, have the patient stand and balance on one foot along with rising up on his or her toes.

Non Surgical Treatment
The initial treatment approach for accessory navicular is non-operative. An orthotic may be recommended or the patient may undergo a brief period of casting to rest the foot. For chronic pain, however, the orthopedic surgeon removes the extra bone, a relatively simple surgery with a brief rehabilitation period and a very good success rate.



Surgical Treatment
The original procedure advocated by Kidner involved shelling out of the accessory navicular bone from within the insertional area of the posterior tibial tendon and rerouting this tendon under the navicular bone in hopes of restoring a normal pull of this tendon. When treating younger children, history has shown us that simply shelling out of the accessory navicular bone from within the tendon and remodeling the tuberosity of the navicular bone can give you satisfactory results.
In general, you want to reserve advancement of the posterior tibial tendon for adults or those who have a more significant flatfoot deformity. You may also use this approach after determining that quality custom orthotics are only resulting in a slight decrease of symptoms.