Corticosteroid Injections in Posterior Ankle Impingement Syndrome: A Survey of Professional and Elite Student Ballet Dancers

Abstract

Posterior ankle impingement syndrome (PAIS) involves pain at the posterior as- pect of the ankle, due in dancers largely to repetitive hyperplantarflexion. In daily practice, corticosteroid injection is often used to relieve the pain of PAIS, but little has been recorded with regard to its effectiveness. The primary objective of this study was to determine the ef- fect on pain of corticosteroid injections in professional and elite student ballet dancers with PAIS. The secondary ob- jectives were to evaluate the prevalence of PAIS, the duration of the effect of injection, patient satisfaction with the effect of injection, time to return to class and performance, and ability to dance after injection. All members of the Dutch National Ballet and the National Ballet Academy Amsterdam received a self-administered questionnaire focused on the use and effect of corticosteroid injections in the treatment of PAIS. The response rate was 61% (77 of 126). Of the included dancers, 38% (29 of 77) had suffered from PAIS, and 38% (11 of 29) had received at least one injection. The numeric rating scale (NRS) was used to assess the severity of pain before and 2 and 6 weeks after injections. The median NRS pain before injection was 9.0 (IQR 8.0-9.5), 3.0 (IQR 0.5-6.5) 2 weeks after injection, and 3.0 (IQR 0.5-6.0) 6 weeks after injection. Overall median NRS satisfaction with the effect of injection was 7.0 (IQR 0-10), and satisfaction with the duration of the effect was 5.0 (IQR 2.0-10). It is concluded that there is a high prevalence of PAIS in ballet dancers and corticosteroid injections are regularly used for pain reduction with good results.