Home-Based Rehabilitation Following Subtalar Dislocation: A Case Report

The demand for physical medicine and rehabilitation services has risen significantly. Immediate rehabilitation is not always readily available which may compromise patients' functional recovery. Here, we describe a rare subtalar dislocation case and how an unsupervised home-based rehabilitation program allowed functional recovery. A 49-year-old male presented to the emergency department with an injury to the right ankle which resulted from a 3-meter height fall with his foot in plantar flexion and inversion. Clinical and imaging findings confirmed a diagnosis of a rare case of subtalar dislocation. The post-injury AOFAS Ankle-Hindfoot Scale score was 24/100 points. After six weeks of immobilization, a patient-tailored home-based rehabilitation program was prescribed. Adherence to our home-based rehabilitation program was critical to allow a range-of-motion improvement and functional recovery. Delaying rehabilitation may lead to long-term functional impairments. Thus, acknowledging the post-acute period as critical to initiate rehabilitation is mandatory. When outpatient rehabilitation settings are not readily available due to high demand, comprehensive patient education, and home-based rehabilitation programs may constitute effective alternative interventions. We demonstrate the significant improvement obtained with an early patient-tailored home-based rehabilitation program in range-of-motion and functional outcomes in a case of medial subtalar dislocation.