What is floating knee surgery ?

What are floating knee injuries?

A flail knee joint resulting from fractures of the shafts or adjacent metaphyses of the ipsilateral tibia and femur is called floating knee. Orthopedic doctors in at MGS Hospital say that the floating knee injuries often include a combination of diaphyseal, metaphyseal and intra-articular fractures. They are usually associated with several complications and mortality.

Causes and Treatment

People sometimes suffer from fractures resulting in floating knee injuries. Athletes also suffer from floating knee injuries when they meet with an untoward accident.

An adult having floating knee injury can be treated with early anatomic reconstruction and surgical stabilization of both fractures. It will allow early joint mobilization. But the same treatment protocol cannot be followed for children, as the treatment of ipsilateral femoral and tibial fractures has been controversial from the outset.

However, doctors at MGS Hospital follow a pattern of individualized surgical sequence for each patient and fracture. They address the floating knee injury problem in different patients according to the characteristics of the injury.

Rehabilitation

After completing the surgical stabilization of a floating knee, it still cannot be ignored. It should be examined for range of motion and stability. Chances of stiffness and infection are high, so for optimum outcome, proper care is important during rehabilitation. Regardless of the treatment, the complication rate is high.

Conclusion

Even though there are different opinions pertaining to the treatment of floating knee injury, some health care centers, such as MGS Hospital have successfully treated a number of patients by treating the injury according to its merit. Lot of studies have been done, and a lot of classifications have been made; all of them only point towards the need for better rehabilitation, irrespective of differences in injury.