Integral classification of injuries (ICI) to the bones, joints, and ligaments--application to injuries of the foot.

The integral classification of injuries (ICI) is a very logical, descriptive classification of fractures and dislocations of the human skeleton. By enumerating all 28 foot bones in relation to the three anatomical and functional regions of the foot, ie, hindfoot (81), midfoot (82), forefoot (83), from proximal to distal, and by introducing lowercase letters for the joints of the foot skeleton,the localization of the injury can be described precisely. The uppercase A defines extra-articular, B describes intra-articular and C is for fracture dislocations. By introducing the uppercase D, different dislocations can be described. By using additional lowercase Greek letters, the direction of a dislocation can be coded. For simple 'everyday' use, a fracture of the calcaneus(81.2) involving three joints can be described as a B3-fracture. For scientific or database coding purposes, one can describe in square brackets which joints or segments are involved and how they are injured in relation to three different subgroups representing first the tissue (bone, cartilage, capsule, and ligaments),second the kind of injury (three graduations of fracture, cartilage, or ligament damage), and third (three graduations) the extent of the dislocation or displacement. Following ten conventions, a complex foot trauma can be coded as precisely as a simple dislocation of the big toe.