Foot fractures are common and clinically significant injuries, accounting for around 10 % of all fractures and up to 40 % of lower extremity fractures [[1], [2], [3]]. These injuries result in considerable healthcare utilisation, including radiology, rehabilitation, and surgical intervention, and contribute to a substantial economic burden [4,5]. In the UK, this burden is managed within the resource-constrained National Health Service (NHS), making it essential to understand the current scale and distribution of foot fracture incidence to optimise care pathways and inform resource planning.

Foot fractures usually result from falls, twisting mechanisms, or crush trauma [6,7]. Most heal with nonoperative management within 6–8 weeks, although symptoms such as pain, swelling, and stiffness may persist for several months [8,9]. Operative fixation is reserved for displaced or intra-articular fractures but does not necessarily shorten recovery time [10,11].

Despite their frequency and impact, contemporary epidemiological studies focused on foot fractures in the UK are limited. Prior UK-based fracture research has either grouped foot fractures with other injuries or excluded outpatient-managed cases, which form the majority [5,[12], [13], [14]] . This lack of detail hinders accurate economic evaluation and planning.

Unlike hip fractures, which are comprehensively captured in the National Hip Fracture Database, other fracture types are not recorded in any dedicated UK registry [15]. Although foot fractures appear in administrative datasets such as Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), these do not provide registry-level surveillance or standardised population-level estimates [16]. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) addresses this gap by integrating multiple data sources and applying statistical modelling to generate harmonised estimates across time, geography, and demographic groups.

This study uses GBD 2021 data (1990–2021) to describe the national and regional burden of foot fractures in the UK. It aims to:

Quantify incidence and YLDs of foot fractures in the UK and their trends over time

Explore differences across UK nations and English regions

Analyse associations with age, sex, and cause of injury