The Real Reason Joe Biden Is Wearing An Ankle Boot

Dogs may be man's best friend, but they can also be a key reason why pet owners end up in the hospital for injuries that include fractures, bruises, and abrasions (via PetMD). Just ask President-elect Joe Biden, who will be spending the next few weeks in a walking boot thanks to a weekend Thanksgiving injury that happened while he was playing with Major, one of his two German shepherds (via The New York Times).

It had first appeared that Biden had sprained his ankle, but a "follow-up CT scan confirmed hairline (small) fractures of President-elect Biden's lateral and intermediate cuneiform bones, which are in the midfoot. It is anticipated that he will likely require a walking boot for several weeks," says Kevin O'Connor, director of executive medicine at GW Medical Faculty Associates said in a statement (via Twitter). 

Biden isn't the first, nor will he be the last to get a pet-related injury. PetMD quoted a 2010 study by the CDC says pet-injuries happen fairly frequently, and of these, dogs are seven and a half times more likely to cause injuries than cats are. 

Social media met the news of the injury with a mixture of humor and well wishes. Several took to Twitter to post photos of their dogs and to commiserate about the role man's best friend can play in causing injury. One posted: "Dear Joe, I'm sorry to hear about your foot. You have my sympathy. I broke my ankle in October, had surgery Nov. 2nd & have been in a walking boot since. You'll be in my thoughts while you recover. Hope it's speedy! BTW, my Finn caused me to break my right wrist twice!" There were even well wishes sent from the White House, from outgoing President Donald Trump who tweeted a video of Biden leaving the hospital, and the caption "Get well soon!"

Perhaps the most humorous tweet came from Bradley Whitford, who played Josh Lyman in The West Wing. He noted: "In my experience, a President starting off with a minor injury is a good sign" — in a nod to the pilot episode of the long-running series, where President Josiah Bartlett played by Martin Sheen appears in a boot after running his bicycle into a tree. Richard Schiff, who also appeared on The West Wing as Toby Ziegler, also weighed in on Whitford's comment, tweeting: "Funny. My experience as well."