What should it be called? I have long been part of the school that thinks we should be sticking with the posterior Tibial Tendon Dysfunction name as that is the one that has mostly stuck and the problem was considered one of the posterior tibial muscle no longer being above to do its job – it just made sense. Two things are starting to change my mind:

1. The pathomechanical and other studies have shown there is a lot more to it than just the posterior tibial tendon.
2. The confusion between posterior tibial tendon dysfunction and posterior tibial tendonitis is too common and leading to wrong treat choices (especially in runners).

It is the later point that is getting more and more attention. They are not the same thing. Posterior tibial tendonitis is an overuse injury in active healthy people. Posterior Tibial Tendon dysfunction is a progressive flatfoot deformity in older overweight adults. Two totally different sets of symptoms; two totally different populations; two totally different sets of clinical features …. yet some think they are the same thing on a continuum and some mix the two up and use the same treatment interventions. Nope.

I now think we should be calling posterior tibial tendon dysfunction either adult acquired flatfoot or progressive collapsing foot deformity to avoid the confusion and better reflect the underpinning pathological process. This terminology of progressive collapsing foot deformity is the name that seems to be being used more frequently in the most recent literature on this problem.