Bones of the foot (tarsals) and toes (Metatarsals) can be fractured by rolling and twisting injuries of the foot and compression forces.
Function:
Like in the hand, tarsals and metatarsals are responsible for a natural gait and lower limb movement pattern in general.
Common reasons:
Fracture of the 5th metatarsal is the most common fracture (Cheung and Lui, 2016) of the lower limb (the patient may complain of having sprained their ankle, as the injury is the result of an inversion injury).
Treatment:
Management of this condition involves using the **PRICE regime**, the fracture may need to be immobilised or surgical intervention if the fracture is displaced. Especially after severe fractures, a symptom-free recovery is hard to achieve and uncommon (Krause, Schmid and Weber, 2016).
References:
Cheung C.N. and Lui T.H., 2016, Proximal Fifth Metatarsal Fractures: Anatomy, Classification, Treatment and Complications, Archives of Trauma Research, 5(4), pp: e33298.doi: 10.5812/atr.33298. eCollection 2016 Dec.
Krause F., Schmid T. and Weber M., 2016, Current Swiss Techniques in Management of Lisfranc Injuries of the Foot, Foot and Ankle Clinic, 21(2), pp: 335-350
