Abstract
Calcaneal fractures are severe foot and ankle injuries usually occurring when very high forces impact
the foot and damage the heel. If the fractures have shifted out of place then the accurate restoration of the
dimensions of the heel requires the performance of a surgery. The approach widely used today is the open
reduction and internal fixation of the fracture, according to which the bone fragments are put together and held
in place with a metal plate and multiple screws. After the surgery, no walking on the foot is permitted for
approximately 3 months. The major reason for this is that a single-sided fixation results in a severe eccentric
support of the bone fragments when loads, such as those of the stance face, are applied; thus a new fracture of
the newly created tissue or a new dislocation is endangered. A solution to this problem would be an internal
double-sided support. Since this is not applicable due to surgical reasons, an external double-sided fixation
should be considered instead. Towards this direction, a simplified 3D approximation of a typical calcaneal
fracture was studied under loads and supports retrieved from the literature. The contribution of the present work
is the description of the resulting collapse mode, the description of the tensile field developed along the
fragmental interfaces in the case of a double-sided fixation as well as a comparison with the single-sided
fixation, which proved to be inferior.
the foot and damage the heel. If the fractures have shifted out of place then the accurate restoration of the
dimensions of the heel requires the performance of a surgery. The approach widely used today is the open
reduction and internal fixation of the fracture, according to which the bone fragments are put together and held
in place with a metal plate and multiple screws. After the surgery, no walking on the foot is permitted for
approximately 3 months. The major reason for this is that a single-sided fixation results in a severe eccentric
support of the bone fragments when loads, such as those of the stance face, are applied; thus a new fracture of
the newly created tissue or a new dislocation is endangered. A solution to this problem would be an internal
double-sided support. Since this is not applicable due to surgical reasons, an external double-sided fixation
should be considered instead. Towards this direction, a simplified 3D approximation of a typical calcaneal
fracture was studied under loads and supports retrieved from the literature. The contribution of the present work
is the description of the resulting collapse mode, the description of the tensile field developed along the
fragmental interfaces in the case of a double-sided fixation as well as a comparison with the single-sided
fixation, which proved to be inferior.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceeding of 2nd International Conference “From Scientific Computing to Computational Engineering” |
| Pages | 509-516 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Publication status | Published - 5 Jul 2006 |
| Event | 2nd International Conference “From Scientific Computing to Computational Engineering” - Athens, Greece Duration: 5 Jul 2006 → 8 Jul 2006 |
Conference
| Conference | 2nd International Conference “From Scientific Computing to Computational Engineering” |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Greece |
| City | Athens |
| Period | 5/07/06 → 8/07/06 |
Keywords
- calcaneal fracture
- collapse mode
- internal fixation
- external fixation