Fig. 1

Surgical procedure to open the fibula fracture line. A The distal tibial articular surface and the talar articular surface can be clearly visualized by opening the fractured end of the fibula with a spreader. The solid black line is the distal tibial articular surface and the dotted black line is the talar articular surface. B A small fragment of bone inserted between the fracture ends. The solid black line is the small bone mass. C Intraoperative removal of small fragments that interfere with fracture reduction. D Physical view of the intraoperative spreader