Monday, February 12, 2007

Posterior Ankle Reduction...live

This patient recently presented to an Emergency Department. Here is an overview of how to perform a posterior ankle reduction.

1. Slightly flex the knee to relax the achilles tendon
2. Have an assistant apply countertraction
3. Grasp the forefoot with one hand and the heel with the other hand
4. Slightly plantar flex the foot
5. Apply straight downward traction on the plantar flexed foot, then pull the foot forward

6. Splint the ankle at 90 deg in a long-leg posterior splint
7. Many patients will also have an associated fracture requiring surgical intervention

1 comment:

jasonryz said...

Wow! - I'm just an intern - haven't performed this procedure yet - but I just read up on it in Robert's and Hedges.