Evaluation of normal calcaneal angles in chennai population

Background: The calcaneus bone (heel bone) has angles called the Bohler's angle (BA) and the Gissane angle (GA). Estimation of the normal values of these angles can help in their surgical reduction and in restoring the function of the bone in calcaneal fractures. Aim: Our aim is to evaluate the normal limits of BA and GA from lateral view radiographs of the foot of patients presenting to a tertiary care center and also assess the distribution of these parameters with respect to age, sex, and side of the body and also compare them with literature. Methods: A retrospective study was done on 100 randomly selected patients with intact calcaneus bone attending the Department of Orthopedics of our Tertiary Care Hospital between January 2020 and March 2020. Lateral plain radiographs of both feet are obtained and the angles are calculated by two observers using a goniometer and pencil. Mean BA and GA were calculated and their relationship with age, sex, and side of the body were assessed. The SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences. IBM corp, Armonk, NY, USA) software was used. Unpaired t-test for correlation between the mean of angles with gender and with side of the body and one-way ANOVA test was done for correlation between the mean of angles with age. Results: The mean value of BA in our study was 30.03° ±5.09° (range: 20.2°–42.3°) and mean GA was 123.57° ±7.53° (range: 101.5°–135.3°). No statistically significant variations were found for sex (BA: P = 0.2108; GA: P = 0.2172), age groups (BA: P = 0.6003; GA: P = 0.2275), and side of body (BA: P = 0.1819; GA: P = 0.0602). Conclusion: Variations of statistical significance were present between the results of our study with that of other studies in the past. The values obtained from our study can be used as a reference standard for use by orthopedic surgeons in the treatment of calcaneal fractures for Chennai population.