[Serious foot injury: consider partial amputation designed to preserve leg-length and a weight-bearing stump].

Three patients with physically demanding jobs, a 25-year-old farmer, a 22-year-old market trader and a 32-year-old house painter, each suffered a traumatic injury of one foot. All three underwent amputation in which part of their foot was salvaged and were able to return to their physically demanding jobs. The first patient underwent a Syme's amputation, the second a Pirogoff's amputation and the third a Chopart's amputation. A partial amputation of the foot has several advantages: patients are able to walk without walking aids, particularly in and around the house, due to the presence of a direct weight-bearing stump. With a prosthesis patients may be able to resume their physically demanding jobs, there are fewer problems of functional restraint of the knee and phantom pain is rare. Although these amputations can be technically demanding, an amputation at this level in young as well as older patients with an adequate blood supply to the hind foot is worthwhile and to be recommended for several reasons.