© 1983 British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery 0301-620X/83/3073-0310 $2.00 310 THE JOURNAL OF BONE AND JOINT SURGERY ISOLATED ANTERIOR DISLOCATION OF THE PROXIMAL TIBIOFIBULAR JOINT

Three cases ofisolated anterior dislocation in the proximal tibiofibularjoint are presented. The common aetiological frature was that injury occurred with the knee in hyperfiexion and the foot inverted and extended. The symptoms oflocking, pain and giving way may lead to an erroneous diagnosis of meniscal injury. Early diagnosis in the acute case enabled easy reduction. In the inveterate cases, resection of the head of the fibula gave complete relief of symptoms. Isolated anterior dislocation of the proximal tibiofibular joint has rarely been reported, and may, therefore, receive too little attention. In the literature, dislocations in this joint have been classified as anterior, superior and posterior, and as subluxations (Ogden 1974). A distinction has to be made between anterior dislocations and the other varieties, as the aetiology, treatment, and complications are different. Anterior dislocations are more common than posterior; superior ones are uncommon and never occur in isolation (Lyle 1925). In the course of five months three cases of isolated anterior dislocations, demonstrating different stages of the same injury, were treated in the Department o