2021 Volume 36 Issue 4 Pages 637-642
[Purpose] The common treatment plan for osteochondral lesions of the talus (OLT) is multi-week or -month therapeutic rest, including relieving the load on the lesion. This paper reports an OLT patient, who concomitantly performed sports activities from the beginning of physical therapy, with the aim of returning to competition. [Participant and Methods] The patient was a 17-year-old female senior high school table tennis athlete, who had had difficulty in taking a sufficient rest after experiencing an inversion ankle sprain. At 8 weeks after injury, damage to the cartilage surface in the posterolateral part of the talus was identified, and physical therapy was initiated. Physical therapy approaches and exercise intensity levels were adjusted, with mechanical stress taken into account based on the results of the leg-to-heel alignment test with squats, scaphoid malignment screening, and assessment using taping. [Results] Healing of the lesion was confirmed 12 weeks after the initiation of physical therapy. [Conclusion] Lesion healing was achieved within a period similar to that required in the common treatment plan by adjusting physical therapy approaches and exercise intensity levels while considering mechanical stress, and combining continuous sports activities.
