Weight-bearing endurance and functional recovery in tibial plateau fractures treated without surgery

Background. One of the challenging fractures in orthopedic care are fractures of tibial plateau, especially when we need to treat them conservatively. This is because these fractures cause significant impairment and there is no standard weight-bearing program to be followed. The purpose of this study is to show the future effect of weight-bearing protocols on healing time and to reduce complications such as fracture recurrence and malunions. Materials and methods. Our study is a prospective clinical trial involving 50 participants with tibial plateau fractures divided into two groups. One group follows structured load-bearing program, and the other follows the conventional rehabilitation treatment. Patients’ functional mobility was assessed by timed up and go test, pain degree was recorded. Results. After 84 days, the patients followed the weight-bearing program evidenced a better timed up and go test time (7.60 vs. 10.16 seconds; p < 0.0001) and a better weight load endurance (71.33 vs. 54.14 kg; p < 0.0001), also a lower pain threshold (2.4 vs. 4.2; p < 0.0001). Conclusions. Patients with tibial plateau fractures who follow organized weight load protocol will have a better healing outcome and this reflects the need to diagram a structured rehabilitation program to be followed in the future.