Abstract
Background: Müller-Weiss disease (MWD) remains a controversial painful foot condition without consensus on its
pathogenesis or a gold standard treatment modality. The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of calcaneal
lengthening in adolescent patients with symptomatic MWD with flatfoot.
Methods: The study included 13 feet of 7 patients including 5 females and 2 males who were treated from March 2012
until June 2015 by calcaneal lengthening. The mean age was 15.6 years. The mean duration of symptoms was 13.5 months.
The body mass index (BMI) averaged 28.9 kg/m2
at presentation. The patients were followed up for a mean of 37.8 months.
Results: The osteotomy healed in all cases after a mean of 7.2 weeks. The second foot was operated on after an average
of 11.5 months. The mean talometatarsal-1 angle improved from 39.8 degrees preoperatively to 5.9 degrees. The mean
preoperative calcaneal pitch angle of 7.5 degrees increased to an average of 17.8 degrees postoperatively. The mean
American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) Ankle-Hindfoot Score was improved from 61.9 preoperatively
to 94.2 postoperatively. Four patients had occasional exertional pain. Four feet had mild residual forefoot abduction.
Arthrodesis was not needed in any case by the last follow-up.
Conclusion: Early diagnosis of MWD with flatfoot was important and allowed for nonfusion treatment options. Calcaneal
lengthening osteotomy in selected MWD cases achieved satisfactory outcomes with pain control, deformity correction,
and improvement of the functional results.
Level of Evidence: Level IV, retrospective case series.