OBJECTIVE To assess the clinical efficacy of minimally invasive plate internal fixation for the treatment of calcaneal fractures. METHODS Manual reduction, rectification of deformity, and cold compress with traditional Chinese medicine were used preoperatively to relieve swelling and pain. A small incision was made to expose the articular facet and to perform anatomic reduction and plate fixation. Self-made traditional Chinese pharmaceutics were applied postoperatively on the surface of the wound to accelerate bony union. RESULTS All the 40 patients were followed up for at least 1 year postoperatively. According to the Maryland scoring system, the excellent and good rate was 87.5%. CONCLUSIONS Minimally invasive plate internal fixation has the advantages of relatively mild injury, reliable fixation, good recovery, and rare complications in the treatment of intraarticular fractures.