Patient-reported quality of life and pain after permissive weight bearing in surgically treated trauma patients with tibial plateau fractures: a retrospective cohort study

Introduction A Dutch survey among orthopedic surgeons and trauma surgeons showed that almost 90% of the surgeons do not follow protocols regarding the weight bearing aftercare for tibial plateau fractures. Clinical studies comparing permissive weight bearing (PWB) versus restricted weight bearing (RWB) after surgically treated tibial plateau fractures are not available. The aim of this study was to inventory potential differences in quality of life and pain, and number of complications in patients with surgically treated tibial plateau fractures who followed a PWB regime, relative to those that followed a RWB regime.