Mueller Weiss syndrome is a uncommon source of pain in the mid-foot in adults which was also called Brailsford disease. Mueller Weiss Syndrome is a spontaneous onset osteonecrosis of the navicular in the foot. There's a much more well-known condition of the navicular in young childen referred to as Köhler disease, and this is an osteonecrosis with the tarsal navicular bone, but they are completely different disorders due to the character of the growing bone tissues in children. The disease was first documented by Schmidt back in 1925. Then it was W Muller that afterwards proposed that the pathophysiology with the disorder has been because of an unnatural compression power in the midfoot region. Around the same time, K Weiss, documented which the look on radiographs were a lot like those seen in a disorder called Kienbock disease, and this is an osteonecrosis. The two of these reports resulted in the most frequently used name for this disease, Mueller Weiss syndrome.
Mueller Weiss syndrome typically occurs in adults between forty and sixty years of age (Köhler disease has a common starting point around five years of age). Mueller Weiss Syndrome is more common in females. It could have an impact on just one foot, or it could have an effect on both feet. The traditional symptoms are the slow onset of discomfort in the midfoot and hindfoot that could often be localised to the most agonizing area being about the navicular bone. A flatter foot is in addition more prevalent in those that have this issue. The gold standard to diagnose Mueller Weiss disease is via the use of radiology. On a x-ray there will appear to be a collapse of portions of the navicular and sclerosis with comma-shaped deformity with the outside aspect. A CAT scan could also display similar abnormalities and can be helpful to assess the stage with the problem in more detail. A magnetic resonance image is often a lot more responsive to help with the verification because it is able to find a change in the bone tissues.
Mueller Weiss disorder is commonly progressive and might produce significant pain and be very disabling, and so treatment ought to be commenced as quickly as possible to prevent the navicular bone from being harmed too much. Primary treatment is to limit weight bearing, maybe some pain relief medicines and make use of supporting shoes or boots. Quite often foot orthoses are widely used to help further stabilise the region and support the arch of the foot. This keeps a lot of force off the navicular bone. If that is not really helping, then a additional reduction in weightbearing amounts is required so there is less pressure around the painful navicular. A moon boot or walking brace will be the next phase to help protect and also immobilise the area if your signs and symptoms aren't improving. If these types of conservative approaches usually do not help, then there are surgical options that will help with the pain but may typically leave some modest impairment, which is more desirable in comparison to the continual pain of an active disease. The particular surgical procedure may be a decompression of the bone tissue using drilling. An alternative choice in case there are regions of navicular bone destruction can be a operative fusion of the important joints about the navicular bone.