Suffered a Fibular Ankle Fracture in a car accident? You May Need a Washington Personal Injury Lawyer

It may not be the first injury that comes to your mind when you think of Washington car accidents, but as a Bellevue car accident attorney, I have found that ankle injuries are a very common Seattle personal injury related to auto crashes. The ankle is a fragile part of the body because there are many bones and joints intersecting at the same location. Because it is so fragile, it can be injured in a variety of manners including sport accidents, slips and falls, a misstep, or a car accident. In the case of an auto accident, the ankle is vulnerable because the driver has the foot positioned in a flexed position. In a front- or side-impact crash the force of the oncoming car could put stress on the ankle, sometimes enough to brake the bones. Ankle injuries are classified by their location in order to specify the specific nature of the injury. However, the ankle functions as a whole unit, so a broken bone can cause swelling in other locations as well.

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In this case, the ankle is fractured on the fibula, the smaller vertical bone of the lower leg. Depending on the location of the break in the fibula, this would be classified as a high or low fibular fracture. The joint of the ankle is a syndesmotic joint, which indicates that the rough edges of two bones are held together by tough ligaments. When this ankle joint is injured, healing times are longer than non-syndesmotic injuries. Syndesmotic fibular fractures are often treated with surgery, accompanied by metal screws and plates to ensure stability and long-term healing.

This information is provided by Straight Talk Law, where you can order free information on Seattle auto accidents, buying Washington car insurance, and other valuable legal information, offered as a public service by King County personal injury attorney and author Jason Epstein and his Seattle auto accident, Everett motorcycle accident, and Bellevue wrongful death law firm in Seattle, Washington.