Lanfranc Injury Research Paper

A Lanfranc injury is due to if the bones in the midfoot are broken or the ligaments that support the midfoot are torn. This injury is often mistaken for a simple sprain because a twist of the foot could cause it. You can’t just walk it off like most coaches would say to his player you have to take care of it and it could take a few months and could also require surgery for it to heal properly. You can hurt the midfoot by a slip or fall or in my case just walking on a flat surface. It also can come from a major accident. You see this injury a lot in football and soccer. The midfoot area is comprised of the joints and ligaments in the middle of the foot. Specialized ligaments hold the bones in this area together like puzzle pieces to maintain the arch of the foot. When the ligaments and/or bones in this area are injured, they may shift out of place. (footcareMD)
The symptoms of this injury are that the top of the foot may be swollen and its very painful, there could be bruising on the top and bottom of the foot and if pain worsens with standing or walking the can may be so bad that a person will need crutches.
The doctor could do many different things to figure out what is wrong with the person’s foot. The doctor could apply pressure along the bottom of the foot, twist the foot, and grasp the persons toe and a single heel raise. The doctor might also send for an x-ray to look at the bones and see if they are broke. They might also ask for an MEI and CT scan to see if tissue or muscles are
torn. If there is not a sign for a fracture or a tare they might put a person into a weight bearing cast also known as a boot for about six weeks. If there was a sign of fracture and or tare they can go in and surgically repair what is injured. They can fix a break with pins, screws and plates. If its tore the fuse the torn parts back together. After surgery the person is going to have to go to physical therapy depending on how long the doctor thinks it’s going to take for that person, time changes with each person. It’s important to follow what the doctor’s order you to do and to avoid activities until you are given the go-ahead. If you return to activities too soon after a Lanfranc injury or surgery, you may suffer another injury that can end in damage of the blood vessels, and you can development arthritis and you can even have a longer healing time. You can have up to 6 to 8 weeks in a cast or boot and you can start doing daily things when the doctor tells you when you can. Some athletes never return to their pre-injury levels of sports after their injury. Even if his or her surgeon was really good and everything went well in surgery. Some people just don’t heal as well as they would hope. Arthritis may show up because of cartilage and this may cause chronic pain and may end up fusion in the future. If this happens you can’t do much but you can take care of the pain with some pain medicine for over the counter and ice and or heat. You can also take long warm showers and or bath. You can also use a heater blanket to help your joints while you are sleeping you can also use heating pads. The overall injury can be simple and not take a long time to recover but it also can be a very bad injury and you may have to have surgery and or a cast to help your problems. It can be a easy fix but it takes a while for you to recover from. If you do everything your doctor says you can return to normal life in no time.