Date of Event: 7/13/2015
Canyon involved: Lower Jump Canyon
Region: Sierras, California
Country: United States
Submitted by: Dan Halim
Source: www.ropewiki.com
Injury: Sprain, Fracture
Cause: Jumping error, Group dynamics

Description of Event: This occurred immediately after what’s labeled “Lateral Climb RDC” on the map for Lower Jump. After you climb on the right, you come to a small waterfall about ~4′ that you can jump into a good size pool. Prime location to jump is from the left or right of the watercourse. The right side has a boulder that must be cleared; jumping about 5 feet out will easily clear the boulder. Alternatively, one can down climb on the far right or hand line.

A canyoneer approached the location, assessed the jumping options, and unsuccessfully attempted to communicate with two canyoneers that had already negotiated the obstacle as to what they did. The canyoneer decided to jump on the right side, choosing a difficult variation on the normal boulder obstacle. He jumped, and failed to clear the boulder: the left foot was too far forward, and struck the rock.

At first nothing seemed amiss, just the initial shock/pain from impact with the rock. Swimming toward the shallow end of the pool, the canyoneer started to feel pain in the left foot as it grazed the sandy bottom, but it wasn’t until he had to stand that he realized he wasn’t able to. He could not bear any weight on the foot. He removed his shoe and neoprene sock to inspect, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. There was no deformation, no swelling, and no pain from touching the foot. However, pain was excruciating when bearing weight on the foot. From this point, there was about another mile of hiking. With a combination of rolling around, crawling on all fours, piggy back rides, and funky partner assists, the group made its way through the Toboggan area, a large waterfall, the final slog section, the last jump, and the powerhouse bypass trail.

Initial assessment with X-rays revealed nothing was broken, just a really bad sprain. Months later, a CT scan was made and it was revealed that there were in fact fractures, and some fragments. Official report: Subacute Lisfranc fracture subluxation with osseous fragments in the expected course of the Lisfranc ligament. Additional tiny chip fracture of the third metatarsal base. Resulting mild lateral subluxation of the second and third metatarsals with respect to the tarsals. Subacute fourth metatarsal base intra-articular fracture with bony bridging.

It was later learned that the reason why the fractures didn’t show up on the first x-ray was due to being an occult fracture. Not large enough to show up on x-ray initially, but once it healed and the cartilaginous base started to form, it spread the pieces apart and thus showed on the scan later.

Analysis:
• Know your limitations, choose your jumps wisely and be sure to always have an alternative to jumping.

• Jumping is a team activity

The picture below is of the subject crawling out of the canyon.

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