Author(s)

Rohit Singh¹, Tamer Kamal^1,2, Nick Roulohamin¹, Gopikanthan Maoharan¹, Bessam Ahmed¹, Peter Theobald³

¹Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt, Oswestry, UK.
²Orthopaedic Department, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
³Cardiff school of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.

Ankle fracture is one of the most common lower limb fractures for they account for 9% of all fractures representing a significant portion of the trauma workload. Ankle fractures usually affect young men and older women, however, below the age of 50; ankle fractures are the commonest in men. Two commonly used classification systems for ankle fractures include the danis weber AO classification and the Lauge-Hansen classification. There is biomechanical evidence that posterior non-locking plates are superior in stability than laterally placed plates; however there is little clinical evidence. There are several different methods of ankle fracture fixation, however the goal of treatment remains a stable anatomic reduction of talus in the ankle mortise and correction of the fibula length as a 1 mm lateral shift of the talus in the ankle mortise reduces the contact area by 42%, and displacement (or shortening) of the fibula more than 2 mm will lead to significant increases in joint contact pressures. Further research both biomechanically and clinically needs to be undertaken in order to clarify a preferable choice of fixation.

Ankle Fracture, Review, Current Treatment, Classification, Management

Singh, R. , Kamal, T. , Roulohamin, N. , Maoharan, G. , Ahmed, B. and Theobald, P. (2014) Ankle Fractures: A Literature Review of Current Treatment Methods. Open Journal of Orthopedics, 4, 292-303. doi: 10.4236/ojo.2014.411046.