Those Booth Horses Again -

[wsanto]

Jerry,

You are completely correct--every injury is different--especially ankle injuries. So much depends on where the fracture occurs on the fibula and how much collateral injury there is to the other soft tissues including the supporting ligaments that band the fibula to the tibia and to the foot.

Dr. Mudd said this in his statement--

"On examination, I found there was a straight fracture of the tibia about two inches above the ankle. My examination was quite short, and I did not find the adjoining bone fractured in any way. I do not regard it a peculiarly painful or dangerous wound; there was nothing resembling a compound fracture."

Based on this, Booth had a type C fibula fracture. That is a simple fracture above the ligament structure of the ankle.

I assume if Booth had fractured his fibula closer to the ankle he would have suffered more instability (because of concurrent ligament damage) which may have made it more unlikely he could run off the stage and mount a horse.