Anterior Tibialis Tendonitis Causes, Symptoms, Treatment Options
Video Transcription
?"...When we think about muscles in the leg and the foot and ankle, we think about the anterior ?
tibialis as being the oppositional muscle for the calf. So, when we talk about the upper arm, we ?
think about biceps and triceps and when we talk about the upper leg, we talk about hamstrings ?
and quadriceps. For the calf muscle, the oppositional muscle is the anterior tibialis. It is a muscle ?
that goes down the front part of the leg, just lateral to the shin bone. It is part of the complex of ?
muscles that helps pull the ankle up.?
If you are having swelling in the front of the ankle or along the instep of the foot, and it's painful ?
to go up and down stairs, stand, or walk, you could have this condition. Diagnosis involves a ?
combination of both the history and the physical exam. Sometimes this tendon, if it becomes ?
really inflamed, can necessitate further treatment such as immobilization. So, we can use simple ?
things, like activity modification versus getting a little more in-depth and potentially putting ?
people in splints or walking boots or some sort of lightweight ankle support orthosis, an ASO ?
brace, and then maybe recommending some physical therapy. Sometimes swelling and pain in ?
this tendon can be a harbinger of worse things to come such as a tendon rupture. Thankfully, this ?
is very uncommon. A tibialis anterior rupture would almost invariably result in what we call foot ?
slap or foot drop.?
Often patients that have had a rupture and may not be aware of it will have the sensation that ?
when they're walking their foot slaps against the floor and they have a hard time picking it up ?
and down. It can be repaired if it's caught early, but it's oftentimes a tendon injury that is ?
frequently missed, particularly by primary care providers and ER physicians, because it's hard to ?
identify as a potential injury. Thankfully, it's very uncommon and the more common thing is to ?
develop tendonitis or irritation/inflammation around the tendon. As I said, we can treat this ?
oftentimes with very simple measures such as immobilization, icing to some degree using over-?
the-counter anti-inflammatory therapy, or friction massage, oftentimes with ice. Then contrasting ?
that with moist heat is often sometimes helpful. For the most part, this is a reversible condition, ?
but there are times when there are significant degenerative changes in the tendon that can ?
necessitate more elaborate surgical approaches, but that's pretty rare."?