The Orthopedist’s Favorite Footwear

“Come ON! You’ve gotta be KIDDING me!” the orthopedist yelled into the phone when I called him for the third fracture of the morning. Meh. Wasn’t the phone calls. He’s always in a bad mood. First, it was a patella fracture. Then, it was a hip fracture. Now, it was an open ankle fracture. What was the common theme running through all of the fractures? The orthopedist’s favorite footwear: Flip flops. The first patient’s flip flop caught on a curb and caused her to hit the concrete full force with her knee. The second patient’s flip flop broke while she was trying to run to catch the bus. She got an ambulance ride instead. The third patient gave herself a “flat tire” when she was running and had a nasty open tib/fib fracture with significant skin loss to her foot. So, while the orthopedist was miserable because, well … he’s an orthopedist … the misfortune of others who take their chances wearing flip flops was sure keeping his practice busy. OK, OK, I’m kidding about orthopedists being miserable. Some of my most miserable best friends are orthopedists. Don’t go posting this to some orthopedics message board and start a flame war. Remember, gentle readers, that if you absolutely must wear this flimsy footwear of horror, they don’t support your feet, they aren’t well-attached to your feet, and they aren’t running shoes. Walk slowly, don’t run in them, and don’t w...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Tags: Patient Encounters Source Type: blogs