Foot and Ankle Stress Fractures in Athletics

Stress fractures in the sports patient represent a growing problem, especially linked to the return to sport. The anatomical distribution varies depending on the type of population, the intensity, and the practiced discipline. From the etiopathogenetic point of view, prolonged overloads cause micro-traumas that over time manifest themselves with a frank subsidence of the structural integrity of the bone. In the context of foot and ankle, sites of interest for stress fractures (in Track and Field athletes) can be divided into “high risk” and “low risk” sites, based on their healing potential and this must be taken into account for the following therapeutic choices. Treatment should be tailored to the healing tendency of the stress fracture and the athletes’ intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors. The various types and sites of stress fracture are clearly exposed, with suggestions and evidence on the treatments described.