Pott's fracture, also known as Pott's syndrome I and Dupuytren fracture, is an archaic term loosely applied to a variety of bimalleolar ankle fractures. The injury is caused by a combined abduction external rotation from an eversion force. This action strains the sturdy medial (deltoid) ligament of the ankle, often tearing off the

medial malleolus A malleolus is the bony prominence on each side of the human ankle. Each leg is supported by two bones, the tibia on the inner side (medial) of the leg and the fibula on the outer side (lateral) of the leg. The medial malleolus is the promi ...

due to its strong attachment. The talus then moves laterally, shearing off the

lateral malleolus A malleolus is the bony prominence on each side of the human ankle. Each leg is supported by two bones, the tibia on the inner side (medial) of the leg and the fibula on the outer side (lateral) of the leg. The medial malleolus is the promine ...

or, more commonly, breaking the

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity ...

superior to the tibiofibular

syndesmosis In anatomy, fibrous joints are joints connected by fibrous tissue, consisting mainly of collagen. These are fixed joints where bones are united by a layer of white fibrous tissue of varying thickness. In the skull the joints between the bones ar ...

. If the tibia is carried anteriorly, the posterior margin of the distal end of the tibia is also sheared off by the talus. A fractured fibula in addition to detaching the medial malleolus will tear the tibiofibular syndesmosis.Moore and Agur. Essential Clinical Anatomy. Lippincotts Williams and Wilkins. 2007 The combined fracture of the medial malleolus, lateral malleolus, and the posterior margin of the distal end of the tibia is known as a "trimalleolar fracture". An example of Pott's fracture would be in a sports tackling injury. The player receives a blow to the outside of the ankle, causing the ankle to roll inwards (so that the sole of the foot faces laterally). This damages the ligaments on the inside of the ankle and fractures the fibula at the point of contact (usually just above the tibiofibular syndesmosis). A better way to visualize this is the two hands of a clock, with one hand facing 12 and the other facing 6. The vertical line they form represents the fibula of the person's right leg. The lateral force approaches from 3 o'clock, sending the lower hand snapping outwards to point at 5 o'clock. Bimalleolar fractures are less likely to result in arthritis than trimalleolar fractures. __TOC__

History

English physician

Percivall Pott Percivall Pott (6 January 1714, in London – 22 December 1788) was an English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopaedics, and the first scientist to demonstrate that a cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen. Career He was the ...

experienced this injury in 1765 and described his clinical findings in a paper published in 1769. The term "Dupuytren fracture" refers to the same mechanism, and it is named for Guillaume Dupuytren.Dupuytren, G. (1819). Mémoire sur la fracture de l’extremité inferieure du peroné, les luxations et les accidents qui en sont la suite. ''Ann med.-chir Hôp''. Paris, 1: 2-212. Pott did not describe disruption of the tibio-fibular ligament, whereas Dupuytren did.

References

External links

wikiradiography.com: Dupuytren's Fracture
{{Fractures Bone fractures