Objectives. Overlap between the distal tibia and fibula has always been quoted
to be positive. If the value is not positive then an injury to the
syndesmosis is thought to exist. Our null hypothesis is that it
is a normal variant in the adult population. Methods. We looked at axial CT scans of the ankle in 325 patients for
the presence of overlap between the distal tibia and fibula. Where
we thought this was possible we reconstructed the images to represent
a plain film radiograph which we were able to rotate and view in
multiple planes to confirm the assessment. . Results. The scans were taken for reasons other than pathology of the
ankle. We found there was no overlap in four patients. These patients
were then questioned about previous injury,
