Imaging progresses in fatigue fracture

Fatigue fracture represents a spectrum of osseous stress injuries, and occurs when bone responses to abnormal repetitive stress. It is particularly common in the athletics-related populations. The vast majority affect the lower extremity. Due to lack of specificity, fatigue fractures may mimic other musculoskeletal diseases. Early and accurate diagnosis is important in planning treatment and improving prognosis of fatigue fracture. This paper mainly introduced the progresses of various radiological methods (X ray, CT, scintigraphy, MRI, and ultrasound) which are available for detecting fatigue fracture. (authors)