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The Blackburn Foot and Ankle Hyperbook  
Evidence based education in foot and ankle surgery
  Ankle fractures - introduction

Ankle fractures are common. In an average trauma practice the ankle is the second or third commonest fracture. Court-Brown et al found the incidence in the Edinburgh area to be 125/100,000 in the early 1990s. The incidence is probably rising, especially among older women.

Many ankle fractures are simple, stable injuries which require only symptomatic treatment, but others are severe, complex injuries which seriously affect the work and leisure abilities of the patient. Our own series over 5 years included over 300 fractures and found:

  • 50% undisplaced, stable fractures requiring only symptomatic treatment
  • 25% undisplaced, potentially unstable fractures
  • 25% displaced fractures of various degrees of severity

The latter tend to dominate discussion of ankle fractures but make up quite a small proportion of the workload.

This group of pages offers critical reviews of the evidence on various topics in ankle fractures :