Isolated Syndesmotic Injury

Yong Tae Kim; Hyong Nyun Kim; Yong Wook Park

doi:10.14193/jkfas.2016.20.3.100

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Kim, Kim, and Park: Isolated Syndesmotic Injury

Review Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2016;20(3):100-105.

Published online: 19 January 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14193/jkfas.2016.20.3.100

Isolated Syndesmotic Injury

Yong Tae Kim, Hyong Nyun Kim, Yong Wook Park

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding Author: Hyong Nyun Kim Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, 1 Singil-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul 07441, Korea Tel: 82-2-829-5165, Fax: 82-2-2634-1908, E-mail: hyongnyun@naver.com

Received 13 July 201611 August 2016 Accepted 11 August 2016

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Syndesmotic injury can either be isolated or associated with bony or ligamentous ankle injury. When it is not associated with an ankle fracture, it may not be easy to diagnose, especially when there is no franck diastasis on a plain radiograph. Without proper treatment, syndesmotic injury can lead to chronic pain due to impingement of scar tissues and instability. It may further lead to ankle arthritis. Early diagnosis with appropriate management is a prerequisite to avoid these problems. Herein, we review and discuss the mechanism of injury, classification, diagnosis, and treatment of isolated syndesmotic injury.

Keywords: Ankle, Sports, Syndesmotic injury

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Figure 1.

The mechanism of syndesmotic injury is described. (A) A direct blow down to the leg of a football player external rotates the ankle to give syndesmotic injury. (B) External rotating force is applied to the ankle of an ice hockey player when the player’s foot is planted and the knee internal rotated.

Figure 2.

Tibiofibular overlap (black arrows) and tibiofibular clear space (white arrows) is measured 1 cm proximal to the tibial planfond. Normal distal tibiofibular joint relationship includes overlap of more than 6 mm and tibiofibular clear space of less than 6 mm.

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