Bikers’ feet and legs are extremely vulnerable to injury in a motorcycle accident because they’re relatively unprotected and closest to the ground. In a recent study titled A review of common motorcycle collision mechanisms of injury, published in the medical journal EFORT Open Reviews, a group of Yale University School of Medicine researchers analyzed how various motorcycle accident injuries happen. Their study examined lower extremity injuries in particular and concluded that many injuries to the foot and ankle occur when a rider falls to the low side when a motorcycle tips over—an accident the authors referred to as a lowside crash. The Yale study identified three mechanisms common in lowside crashes that tended to cause lower extremity injuries: Limb entrapment, in which the rider’s leg gets pinned between the bike and the ground or another fixed object, frequently resulting in tibia fractures or foot and ankle injuries. (Though not noted in the study, limb entrapment can also result in burns to the inner leg from contact with hot engine components and severe road rash to the outer leg from sliding along the pavement beneath a tipped-over bike.); Crash modifying maneuvers, in which a rider, in anticipation of a lowside crash, stretches their low side leg out to try to catch themselves but instead ends up with a foot or ankle fracture or, worse, a mangled leg; Tire-spoke injury, in which the rider’s foot gets caught in a rear tire spoke, resulting in severe trauma to the heel or ankle, sometimes requiring amputation. These, of course, are not the only ways foot and leg injuries happen in motorcycle crashes. They’re simply three of the most common mechanisms identified by researchers as likely to cause lower extremity injuries. Bikers can also sustain severe trauma to their feet or legs when a collision throws them from the saddle to the ground or into a fixed or moving object, resulting in foot or leg fractures, road rash, or a leg pinned or run over by another vehicle. Severe foot and leg injuries can also happen if a car, truck, or bus collides with the side of a bike, crushing the rider’s lower body between the motorcycle and the other vehicle.