Foot injury Explained

If You Had a Foot Injury Accident in California, Here is Some Helpful Information

If you or anyone you care about suffered any foot injury, including a broken foot bone or broken ankle or ankle sprain, in any car accident or other accident in Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley or anywhere in California, we urge you to contact our foot injury accident lawyers now for an a bsolutely FREE consultation, for immediate legal advice, and for assistance with medical care and appropriate physical therapy. With our personal injury attorneys and law firm, the initial case consultation is FREE and there is NO fee on foot injury accidents, any other personal injury accident claims or wrongful death cases until you WIN!

Foot Anatomy

Each of your feet has 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 tendons, muscles and ligaments. No wonder the foot is so easily and often injured in car and other accidents.

Foot Fractures

With 26 bones and 33 joints, it is no surprise that human feet suffer so many fractures, especially in motor vehicle accidents and due to heavy objects, such as chairs, falling on them causing a crush like injury.

The metatarsal bones are the most frequently broken bones in the feet, caused by accident, injury or sometimes even just from repetitive use. Typical signs of metatarsal bone fracture include pain, swelling, redness and bruising.

Here is an overview of foot fractures:

• The human foot has 26 bones and 33 joints.
• The foot is divided into three (3) key parts composed of the hindfoot, the midfoot and the forefoot.
• There are two (2) bones in the hindfoot. These bones are named the talus, which is where the foot attaches to the leg, and the calcaneus, which forms the heel of the human foot.
• Five (5) smaller bones called the navicular, cuboid, and three (3) cuneiforms bones are in the midfoot.
• The longest part of the foot is called the forefoot and contains 19 different bones. There is a metatarsal bone for each of the five (5) toes. The largest toe, often called the big toe, is made up of two (2) phalanges, and the other four (4) smaller toes surprisingly have one (1) more phalanges than the big toe, so each of these smaller toes actually have three (3) phalanges.
• Also, the foot sometimes has some other small bones, which look like pebbles, called sesamoid bones. These smaller bones do not perform any necessary function and are often referred to as accessory bones.

Causes of Broken Bones in Feet

• From a crush accident, for example when something heavy, like a chair, falls on one’s foot
• When an accident causes a sudden bend to the bone
• With a sudden twist to the bone
• When there is a sudden stretch to the bone.

The most common cause of such fractures is from an injury, often occurring while playing sports such as football, basketball, soccer or baseball. In addition, runners, gymnasts and dancers sometimes develop stress fractures.

In addition, foot fractures are also caused by accidents, not just while playing sports, but also from tripping or stumbling over deviations in sidewalks and walkways, uneven ground and tripping over objects, such as something carelessly left on the floor of a market or store.

What is the Difference Between an Ankle or Foot Fracture or Strain?

The ankle connects to the foot to join them together to provide mobility and support for the rest on one’s body. Sprains result from an accident or injury when the ligaments that connect two bones are stretched and sometimes torn. In contrast, a fracture occurs when there is a break in one or more bones, such as the metatarsal bones located in each of one’s five (5) toes.

Causes of Foot Sprains

Just like foot fractures, sprains also occur from playing sports and tripping over uneven sidewalks and walkways. But while football might cause more fractures, basketball and track & field events cause more sprains.

Symptoms of Foot Fractures, Sprains and Other Injuries

There are several different symptoms or clues that one has suffered a foot or ankle sprain or fracture, including the following:

• Pain in the affected area
• Swelling
• Bruises and discoloration
• Difficulty walking and moving

When someone experiences any of the above symptoms, especially after a car, truck or motorcycle accident or after a trip & fall accident or as a result of an object falling and hitting one’s foot, it is wise to see a doctor and take appropriate X-Rays and Scans, such as an MRI, of the affected area.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and Foot Injury

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (“CRPS”) is a severe chronic pain condition that can affect any area of the body, including ones foot or feet.

CRPS is caused by trauma, such as the “crush” injury when a heavy object falls on a foot and crushes it, injuring nerves that essentially become confused, sensing pain far greater than might be expected. Sometimes an injury or pain may start with a “crush” injury to the foot, then over time develop into chronic CRPS, which is significantly more painful, disabling and harder to treat than a typical “crush” injury that heals.

If one experiences on-going symptoms of dysesthesias (impairment of sensitivity, especially to touch), unusual sensitivity, continuing pain that is disproportionate to the initial injury, persistent skin color changes, hyperalgesia (increased sensitivity to pain), persistent weakness in the affected body part (here one’s foot), and motor weakness, one may be suffering from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and should see a foot specialist, orthopedic specialist and/or pain management specialist. Our law offices can assist with such medical consultations.

What You Should do if You Suffer a Foot Injury Accident

If you or anyone you care about suffered any foot injury in any car, truck, motorcycle or other accident, after obtaining necessary initial medical care, which we can help you with if requested, we urge you to contact us now for an absolutely FREE consultation.

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