Joe Biden’s injuries stemming from a fall over the weekend appear to be more serious than initially thought as new imaging tests have revealed that he fractured his foot.
“President-elect Joe Biden sustained a sprain of his right foot,” Biden’s doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, initially said in a statement on Sunday evening. “Initial X-rays are reassuring that there is no obvious fracture and he will be getting an additional CT for more detailed imaging.”
However, follow-up tests revealed that Biden, 78, sustained fractures in his foot from the fall he sustained while playing with one of his dogs.
“Follow-up CT scan confirmed hairline (small) fractures of President-elect Biden‘s lateral and intermediate cuneiform bones, which are in the mid-foot,” O’Connor later said. “It is anticipated that he will likely require a walking boot for several weeks.”
O’Connor added, “Initial x-rays did not show any obvious fracture, but his clinical exam warranted more detailed imaging.”
Biden’s office said in a statement on Sunday afternoon that he fell while playing with one of his two German Shepherds on Saturday.
Biden “visited an orthopedist at Delaware Orthopaedic Specialists in Newark, Delaware, for an examination Sunday afternoon,” the Hartford Courant reported. “Reporters covering the president-elect were not afforded the opportunity to see Biden enter the doctor’s office, despite multiple requests.”
President Donald Trump wished Biden well, writing on Twitter: “Get well soon!”
Get well soon! https://t.co/B0seiO84ld
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2020
CNN highlighted a report last year on Biden’s health from O’Connor:
Biden is being treated for non-valvular atrial fibrillation, or AFib — an irregular heartbeat that O’Connor said Biden experiences no symptoms of. He takes Crestor to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as well as Eliquis to prevent blood clots, Nexium for acid reflux, and Allegra and a nasal spray for seasonal allergies. …
The most significant medical event in Biden’s history, his doctor wrote, came in 1988, when he suffered a brain aneurysm. During surgery, doctors found a second aneurysm that had not bled, which they also treated. …
During his hospitalization after that surgery, Biden, who was in the Senate at the time, suffered deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism. Doctors at the time inserted an “inferior vena cava filter,” which would prevent future blood clots from reaching the heart and lungs, and treated him with an oral anti-coagulant for several months.
Biden’s gallbladder was removed in 2003, and he’s had multiple surgeries and physical treatments for orthopedic injuries and sports medicine, O’Connor wrote.
He has had several non-melanoma skin cancer lesions surgically removed, which O’Connor described as a result of Biden — who often talks about working as a lifeguard growing up — spending “a good deal of time in the sun in his youth.” Biden has also had sinus and nasal surgeries.
“He takes three common prescription medications and two common over-the-counter medications,” O’Connor added in the report from last year. “He has no known medical allergies. He does not use any tobacco products, does not drink alcohol at all, and he works out at least five days a week.”
This article has been expanded after publication to include additional information.