 Introduction/Background Chronic foot pain is a frequent clinical complaint with approximately 14% to 42% of adults in the United States reporting foot problems, often with significant impact on mobility, difficulty performing daily activities, and increased risk of falling, particularly in older individuals [1,2]. Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated a significant improvement in health-related quality of life with effective treatment of foot pain [3]. Estimating the prevalence of chronic foot pain is challenging, because there is no consensus regarding the definition of chronic pain in the literature. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines chronic pain as any pain persisting past the normal healing time, suggesting 3 months in case of chronic pain of benign causes. Women are more commonly affected, and forefoot conditions are more frequent. Persistent pain for more than 6 years has been reported in 51% of women between 70 to 75 years of age [4]. Because of the wide range of causes of chronic foot pain, assessment of these patients with imaging studies in addition to a dedicated clinical examination is often needed [1]. The guidelines of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons divide heel pain into plantar heel pain, usually related to pathology of the plantar fascia, and posterior heel pain, usually related to pathology of the Achilles tendon, and treatment options vary from nonoperative treatments to surgical procedures [5]. OR Reprint requests to: publications@acr.org Chronic Foot Pain Discussion of Procedures by Variant Variant 1: Chronic foot pain. Unknown etiology. Initial imaging. Bone Scan Foot There is no relevant literature to support the use of nuclear medicine studies as the first imaging study in the evaluation of chronic foot pain. CT Foot There is no relevant literature to support the use of CT as the first imaging study in the evaluation of chronic foot pain.
Chronic Foot Pain.  Introduction/Background Chronic foot pain is a frequent clinical complaint with approximately 14% to 42% of adults in the United States reporting foot problems, often with significant impact on mobility, difficulty performing daily activities, and increased risk of falling, particularly in older individuals [1,2]. Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated a significant improvement in health-related quality of life with effective treatment of foot pain [3]. Estimating the prevalence of chronic foot pain is challenging, because there is no consensus regarding the definition of chronic pain in the literature. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines chronic pain as any pain persisting past the normal healing time, suggesting 3 months in case of chronic pain of benign causes. Women are more commonly affected, and forefoot conditions are more frequent. Persistent pain for more than 6 years has been reported in 51% of women between 70 to 75 years of age [4]. Because of the wide range of causes of chronic foot pain, assessment of these patients with imaging studies in addition to a dedicated clinical examination is often needed [1]. The guidelines of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons divide heel pain into plantar heel pain, usually related to pathology of the plantar fascia, and posterior heel pain, usually related to pathology of the Achilles tendon, and treatment options vary from nonoperative treatments to surgical procedures [5]. OR Reprint requests to: publications@acr.org Chronic Foot Pain Discussion of Procedures by Variant Variant 1: Chronic foot pain. Unknown etiology. Initial imaging. Bone Scan Foot There is no relevant literature to support the use of nuclear medicine studies as the first imaging study in the evaluation of chronic foot pain. CT Foot There is no relevant literature to support the use of CT as the first imaging study in the evaluation of chronic foot pain.