Abduction stress and AP weightbearing radiography of purely ligamentous injury in the tarsometatarsal joint.

Twenty volunteers (40 feet) with no prior foot injury underwent standardized abduction stress and standing AP radiographs. Subsequently, the Lisfranc and dorsal tarsometatarsal ligaments in nine feet from cadavers were sectioned in a varying sequential manner, and interval standardized radiographs of abduction stress and AP simulated weightbearing were obtained. On abduction stress radiographs in 39 of 40 feet of volunteers and nine of nine feet of cadavers before sectioning, a line tangential to the medial aspect of the navicular and medial cuneiform (medial column line) intersected the base of the first metatarsal. Combining the sectioning of the Lisfranc and dorsal tarsometatarsal ligaments produced a disruption of the medial column line in all feet from cadavers. Disruption of this medial column line may be a simple and valuable diagnostic tool for determining significant ligamentous injury to the tarsometatarsal interval.

Parent satisfaction comparing two bandage materials used during serial casting in infants.

Plaster of Paris was compared with semirigid fiberglass casting material during serial casting in 17 infants with clubfoot or rigid metatarsus adductus. Semirigid fiberglass was statistically superior in its durability, convenience, performance, and ease of removal. The average amount of time for home cast removal by the parents was 55 minutes for plaster of Paris and 21 minutes for semirigid fiberglass. Complications such as skin abrasions and cast slip-off were similar for both casting materials. Ninety-four percent of parents strongly preferred semirigid fiberglass rather than plaster of Paris for their child's serial casting.