@trauma_timeabout 7 years ago

Traumatic heel avulsion

Today’s case we have another 22 year old male with this painful heel avulsion! When I saw this, I first thought of getting hit in the back of a heel by a closing door when walking in bare foot! This picture is an amazing representation of the pain I feel when that happens to me (I’m dramatic, I know). Though this was not the mechanism of injury for this guy, rather a “traffic incident”. Im assuming he was the driver/passenger in a car that was involved in an accident. I do not suspect a MVC vs pedestrian in this case because this is an unconventional injury you would see in those cases. In most of those cases, we see broken tibias/fibulas, with substantial injuries of the lower legs. This would be indicative of blunt force trauma caused by the bumpers of a car. Since this is the only injury he sustained, it is unlikely he was hit by a car while walking on the street. Luckily, this is just a soft tissue injury, and no fractures were seen on X-ray! This patient had an extensive washout before the heel pad was anchored, with wires, to the calcaneus bone (aka heel bone). He was then put in an ankle immobilizer to decrease the shearing forces of everyday walking. It did not say if he was also given crutches, but that’s deemed by the podiatrist/orthopedist who assumes care for this patient. He should make a full recovery from this injury! He may have some decreased sensation to the heel, however, that’s much better than losing his foot completely!