Abstract
Dear Editor:
We humbly read the comments from Drs Hsu, Lareau, and Born regarding the similarities between our technique published in “A Novel Casting Technique for Tongue-Type Calcaneus Fractures With Soft Tissue Compromise” and their 2013 publication, “Novel Posterior Splinting Technique to Avoid Heel Ulcers,” in Orthopedics. 1,2,3 We sincerely apologize to the authors for our oversight in not properly citing their article, which represents the original description in the literature of this useful technique.
This situation highlights 2 important lessons for the orthopaedic community. First, it is a reminder of the obligation that we have to perform a thorough literature review when preparing any manuscript, poster, or abstract for publication. We have a wealth of literature at our fingertips, including resources that are available through emerging open access publication forums. With an increasing number of available resources, there is a corresponding increase in the responsibility of authors to properly cite the contributions of others.
Second, this discussion emphasizes the many applications of this particular technique to a variety of challenging clinical conditions. Along with Drs Hsu, Lareau, and Born, we hope that these 2 publications will reach a wide audience and provide orthopaedic surgeons with a useful technique to prevent and treat complex soft tissue problems about the heel.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. ICMJE forms for all authors are available online.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.