Functional outcome of multiply injured patients with associated foot injury.

Fourteen polytrauma patients with foot injuries were compared to 14 polytrauma patients without foot injury in this review. The patients were selected from our institution's trauma registry. Criteria for selection included a minimum Injury Severity Score of 12 and a minimum follow-up of 12 months. The AAOS lower limb and foot and ankle outcomes data collection questionnaires were used to evaluate a patient's perception of the results. Marked differences were noted in the patients' physical function (80.7 vs. 38.9), role physical (87.5 vs. 41.1), bodily pain (81.9 vs. 50.6), social function (96.6 vs. 67.9), physical health and pain (83.3 vs. 43.5), satisfaction with symptoms (4.0 vs. 1.5), global foot and ankle (100 vs. 57.6), and shoe comfort scores (100 vs. 18.9) in foot injured vs. control patients, respectively. Although it is intuitively obvious that a patient with a foot injury vs. one without a foot injury who has suffered polytrauma may have a worse outcome, the profound differences in the above scores draw attention to the importance of the proper management of patients with musculoskeletal injuries who survive polytrauma injuries.