The talus (talus) is part of the tarsus (tarsus) along with the calcaneus (heel bone), os naviculare (scaphoid bone), ossa cuneiformia (sphenoid bone) and os cuboidem (cuboid bone). The talus forms with its upper side, the trochlea tali (joint roll), a part of the upper ankle joint. Since the talus bears the entire weight of the body when standing, it is subject to a great deal of force, which means that its bony structure is very stable.
It transfers the weight to the forefoot and the hindfoot via its articulated joints. Because of the great bony stability, a talus fracture usually only occurs in connection with greater force. Depending on the direction of the force acting on the talus or the position of the talus, different fractures occur, which can be classified according to Hawkins.
Anatomy of the talus
The center of the talus is called corpus tali. The trochlea tali (joint roll) lies on top of the corpus. It is connected to the underside of the tibia (tibia tibia), the roller roof (Facies artiucularis inferioir tibiae), via a cartilaginous, curved joint surface and forms the distal (more distant, lower) joint body of the upper ankle joint (OSG).
Behind the trochlea tali, the talus has a bony projection, the processus posterior tali. To the front, the corpus tali merges via the collum tali (neck) into the caput tali (head). The caput tali is involved in the formation of the lower ankle joint (USG) via a cartilaginous joint surface. Towards the bottom, the corpus tali forms three joint connections with the calcaneus (heel bone).
Causes
A talus fracture requires the use of strong force, such as in a traffic accident or a fall from a great height – i.e. when strong forces are applied to the ankle and talus. The fracture of the lateral processus tali is increasingly diagnosed in snowboarders, which is where the name of this talus fracture comes from: Ankle up snowboarders.
