ExtremitiesPodiatricFree
Extremity exam ground rules
Two views at right angles, three for a joint, both joints for a long bone, and collimation you can see on all four sides.
How many views
Every bone exam needs at least two projections taken 90 degrees apart, usually a frontal and a lateral. One view can hide a fracture line or make a displaced fracture look aligned. Joints get at least three views, a frontal, an oblique and a lateral, because their surfaces curve and overlap. That is why a finger, hand, wrist, elbow, knee, ankle or foot series has three views or more, while a humerus, forearm, femur or tibia and fibula series has two.