‘Soccer toe’: Chronic physeal injury of the great toe metatarsal in a skeletally immature child - A case report

Abstract

Chronic physeal stress injuries in children can result from ongoing, repetitive compression, distraction and/or shear forces during sports-related activity, and manifest as physeal widening on imaging. We present an 11-year-old soccer athlete with focal physeal widening of her great toe metatarsal and postulate that ongoing or repetitive stress from soccer play may manifest as this imaging appearance. We suggest that recognition of this entity in growing children might explain pain, if present, and guide conservative treatment.