Accidental foot injuries including metatarsal fractures commonly result from compressive loading. The efficacy of personal protective equipment to prevent these traumatic injuries depends on the understanding of metatarsal fracture tolerance; however, the in-situ fracture tolerance of the metatarsals under direct compressive loading to the foot’s dorsal surface remains unexplored, even though the metatarsals are the most commonly fractured bones in the foot. The goal of this research is to quantify the in-situ fracture tolerance of the metatarsals under compressive loading. We are using cadaver feet and loading them in custom made frames at various loading rate and measuring the loads required for fracture. New biomechanical data from this study further quantifies the metatarsal fracture risk under compressive loading and will help to improve the development and testing of improved personal protective equipment for the foot to avoid catastrophic injury.
