Postoperative Outcomes with Unrestricted or Restricted Immediate Weight Bearing Status After Operatively Treated...

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic surgery
• Trauma care
• Rehabilitation medicine

Background:

• Functional recovery after unstable pelvic ring injuries depends on early mobilization.
• Immobility post-surgery is linked to adverse outcomes.
• This study evaluates immediate postoperative weight-bearing protocols for pelvic ring injuries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare outcomes of restricted (NWB) versus unrestricted (WB) immediate postoperative weight-bearing protocols.
• To analyze trends in fracture healing, complication rates, and reoperation.
• To assess the impact of weight-bearing status on patient recovery.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of 151 adult patients with unstable pelvic ring injuries.
• Data collected from 1/2012 to 6/2022 at a level one trauma center.
• Outcomes included time to healing, time to full weight bearing, complications, and reoperations.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant differences were found between NWB and WB groups in healing time (p=0.73), fracture-related complications (p=0.41), non-fracture related complications (p=0.38), reoperations (p=0.61), or time to full weight bearing (p=0.73).
• The WB group achieved full weight bearing earlier (9 weeks vs. 12 weeks).
• Common injury mechanisms included MVCs and falls; common patterns were lateral compression injuries.

Conclusions:

• Unrestricted postoperative weight-bearing protocols yield similar outcomes to restricted protocols for surgically treated unstable pelvic ring injuries.
• The choice between restricted or unrestricted weight-bearing protocols does not significantly impact postoperative outcomes.
• Clinical decisions on weight-bearing can be individualized based on these findings.