Bilateral calcaneal fracture in childhood

Abstract

Calcaneal fractures in young children are rare. Bilateral calcaneal fractures in this age group are exceptional. In the literature only 4 cases of bilateral calcaneal fractures have been reported, and the youngest patient was 6 years old (range 6–17 years) [2, 8]. Jonasch [4] estimated that calcaneal fractures accounted for 0.005% of all fractures before the age of 15, in contrast to 1%–2% in adults. This is confirmed by other studies [5, 8, 10]. It is not unlikely that the incidence is indeed higher because the joint involvement in childhood injuries is often subtle, and the fracture can easily be overlooked on initial X-ray examination [7, 8]. We survey the literature and report the case of a 5-year-old boy who sustained bilateral calcaneal fractures and an additional fracture of the neck of the talus on one side, a combination which to our knowledge has never been described before.