What is Mueller Weiss disorder in the foot?

The Mueller Weiss disease is a rare source of pain in the midfoot in adults that has been less commonly called Brailsford disease. It is a sudden onset osteonecrosis of the navicular in the foot. You will find there's a a lot more well-known disorder of the navicular in children known as Köhler disease, and this is an osteonecrosis with the tarsal navicular bone, but they are different entities because of the nature of the growing bone tissues in children. The condition was first documented by Schmidt back in 1925. It had been W Muller that later supposed that the pathophysiology in the problem was due to an irregular compressive force upon the mid-foot region. About the same time, K Weiss, noted that the look on x-ray were much like those seen in a disease called Kienbock disease, and this is an osteonecrosis. The two of these accounts resulted in the most commonly used term for this problem, Mueller Weiss syndrome.

 

Mueller Weiss syndrome usually occurs in adults between 40 and sixty years of age (Köhler disease has a peak onset around five years of age). Mueller Weiss disease appears to be more common in women. It might affect just one foot, or it might have an effect on both your feet. The typical symptoms include the gradual onset of pain in the midfoot and rearfoot which may turn out to be localised to the most painful place being about the navicular. A flat foot is also more prevalent in individuals with this problem. The easiest way to diagnose Mueller Weiss syndrome is by using radiology. On x-ray there will seem like a crush of areas of the navicular and sclerosis along with comma-shaped deformity of the lateral part. A CAT scan may also present similar irregularities and can be used to appraise the stage with the problem in much more depth. A magnetic resonance image will be more responsive to aid in the diagnosis because it is capable of find a change in the bone tissues.

Mueller Weiss disorder is usually progressive and might produce significant pain and become very disabling, therefore treatment ought to be started as quickly as possible in order to avoid the navicular from becoming damaged too much. Primary treatment methods are to restrict weight bearing, perhaps some pain relief drugs and use supporting shoes or boots. Frequently foot supports are used to help further stabilise the region and support the mid-foot of the foot. This prevents a lot of stress off of the navicular. If that's not helping, then a further reduction in activity amounts is needed which means that there is much less stress around the painful navicular. A moon boot or walking brace is the next phase to further protect and also immobilise the region if your symptoms aren't getting better. If these types of conservative solutions do not help, there are also operative choices that can help with the soreness however may commonly result in some minor disability, which can be more desirable as opposed to the persistent soreness of an active condition. The surgical procedure for Mueller Weiss disorder might be a decompression of the bone with drilling. An alternative choice in case there are regions of bone tissue destruction would be a operative fusion of the important joints about the bone.