Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Gait characteristics and quality of life perception of patients following tibial plateau fracture

  • Trauma Surgery
  • Published:
Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the long-term functional outcome as measured by gait patterns and quality of life assessment of patients with high-energy tibial plateau fracture compared to matched controls.

Materials and methods

Thirty-eight patients were evaluated in a case-controlled comparison. Twenty-two patients with tibial plateau fracture were evaluated after 3.1 (1.63) years (sd) from injury. Patients underwent a computerized spatiotemporal gait test and completed the SF-12 health survey. 16 healthy subjects, matched for age and gender served as a control group. The main outcome measures for this study were spatiotemporal gait characteristics, physical quality of life and mental quality of life.

Results

Significant differences were found in all gait parameters between patients with tibial plateau fracture and healthy controls. Patients with tibial plateau fracture walked slower by 18 % compared to the control group (p < 0.001), had slower cadence by 8 % compared (p = 0.002) to the control group and had shorter step length in the involved leg by 11 % and in the uninvolved leg by 12 % compared to the control group (p = 0.006 and p = 0.003, respectively). Patients with tibial plateau fracture also showed shorter single limb support (SLS) in the involved leg by 12 % compared to the uninvolved leg and 5 % in the uninvolved leg compared to the control group (p < 0.001 and p = 0.017, respectively). Significant differences were found in the Short Form (SF)-12 scores. Physical Health Score of patients with tibial plateau fracture was 65 % lower compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001), and Mental Health Score of the patients was 40 % lower compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001). Finally, significant correlations were found between SF-12 and gait patterns.

Conclusion

Long-term deviations in gait and quality of life exist in patients following tibial plateau fracture. Patients following tibial plateau fracture present altered spatiotemporal gait patterns compared to healthy controls, as well as self-reported quality of life.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Schatzker J (1998) Fractures of the tibial plateau. In: Schatzker J, Tile M (eds) Rationale of operative fracture care. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, p 279

    Google Scholar 

  2. Berkson EM, Virkus WW (2006) High-energy tibial plateau fractures. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 14(1):20–31

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Bennett WF, Browner B (1994) Tibial plateau fractures: a study of associated soft tissue injuries. J Orthop Trauma 8(3):183–188

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Stannard JP, Lopez R, Volgas D (2010) Soft tissue injury of the knee after tibial plateau fractures. J Knee Surg 23(4):187–192

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Tscherne H, Lobenhoffer P (1993) Tibial plateau fractures. Management and expected results. Clin Orthop Relat Res 292:87–100

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Manidakis N, Dosani A, Dimitriou R et al (2010) Tibial plateau fractures: functional outcome and incidence of osteoarthritis in 125 cases. Int Orthop 34(4):565–570

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Jansen H, Frey SP, Doht S et al (2013) Medium-term results after complex intra-articular fractures of the tibial plateau. J Orthop Sci 18(4):569–577

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Kraus TM, Martetschläger F, Müller D et al (2012) Return to sports activity after tibial plateau fractures: 89 cases with minimum 24-month follow-up. Am J Sports Med 40(12):2845–2852

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Loibl M, Bäumlein M, Massen F et al (2013) Sports activity after surgical treatment of intra-articular tibial plateau fractures in skiers. Am J Sports Med 41(6):1340–1347

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Honkonen SE (1995) Degenerative arthritis after tibial plateau fractures. J Orthop Trauma 9(4):273–277

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Lansinger O, Bergman B, Körner L et al (1986) Tibial condylar fractures. A twenty-year follow-up. J Bone Joint Surg Am 68(1):13–19

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Weigel DP, Marsh JL (2002) High-energy fractures of the tibial plateau. Knee function after longer follow-up. J Bone Joint Surg Am 84(A(9)):1541–1551

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Rademakers MV, Kerkhoffs GM, Sierevelt IN et al (2007) Operative treatment of 109 tibial plateau fractures: five- to 27-year follow-up results. J Orthop Trauma 21(1):5–10

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Shrestha BK, Bijukachhe B, Rajbhandary T et al (2004) Tibial plateau fractures: four years review at B & B Hospital. Kathmandu Univ Med J (KUMJ) 2(4):315–323

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Stevens DG, Beharry R, McKee MD et al (2001) The long-term functional outcome of operatively treated tibial plateau fractures. J Orthop Trauma 15(5):312–320

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Wren TA, Gorton GE, Ounpuu S et al (2011) Efficacy of clinical gait analysis: a systematic review. Gait Posture 34(2):149–153

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Lee MM, Song CH, Lee KJ et al (2014) Concurrent validity and test-retest reliability of the OPTOGait photoelectric cell system for the assessment of spatio-temporal parameters of the gait of young adults. J Phys Ther Sci 26(1):81–85

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Lienhard K, Schneider D, Maffiuletti NA (2013) Validity of the Optogait photoelectric system for the assessment of spatiotemporal gait parameters. Med Eng Phys 35(4):500–504

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Ware JE, Sherbourne CD (1992) The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Med Care 30(6):473–483

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Schofield MJ, Mishra G (1998) Validity of the SF-12 Compared with the SF-36 Health Survey in Pilot Studies of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. J Health Psychol 3(2):259–271

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Jacofsky DJ, Haidukerwych GJ (2006) Insall & scott surgery of the knee. Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone. Tibia plateau fractures. In: Scott WN; pp. 1133–46

  22. Segal G, Elbaz A, Parsi A et al (2014) Clinical outcomes following ankle fracture: a cross-sectional observational study. J Foot Ankle Res 7:50

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Ernst GP, Saliba E, Diduch DR et al (2000) Lower-extremity compensations following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Phys therapy 80(3):251–260

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Archer KR, Castillo RC, MacKenzie EJ et al (2006) Gait symmetry and walking speed analysis following lower extremity trauma. Phys Therapy 86(12):1630–1640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Miyazaki T, Wada M, Kawahara H et al (2002) Dynamic load at baseline can predict radiographic disease progression in medial compartment knee osteoarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 61(7):617–622

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Wada M, Maezawa Y, Baba H et al (2001) Relationships among bone mineral densities, static alignment and dynamic load in patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis. Rheumatology 40(5):499–505

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Shakoor N, Hurwitz DE, Block JA et al (2003) Asymmetric knee loading in advanced unilateral hip osteoarthritis. Arthritis Rheum 48(6):1556–1561

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Astephen JL, Deluzio KJ, Caldwell GE et al (2008) Gait and neuromuscular pattern changes are associated with differences in knee osteoarthritis severity levels. J Biomech 41(4):868–876

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Chang A, Hurwitz D, Dunlop D et al (2007) The relationship between toe-out angle during gait and progression of medial tibiofemoral osteoarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 66(10):1271–1275

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Elbaz A, Mor A, Segal G et al (2014) Novel classification of knee osteoarthritis severity based on spatiotemporal gait analysis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage 22(3):457–463

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Sourasky Medical Center, Weizmann St 10, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Yaniv Warschawski, Elis Jacov, Alon Grundshtein & Ely Steinberg

  2. AposTherapy Research Group, Herzliya, Israel

    Avi Elbaz & Ganit Segal

  3. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel

    Doron Norman

  4. Biorobotics and Biomechanics Lab, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Amir Haim

Authors
  1. Yaniv Warschawski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Avi Elbaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ganit Segal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Doron Norman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Amir Haim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Elis Jacov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Alon Grundshtein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Ely Steinberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yaniv Warschawski.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

None to declare.

Financial Disclosures

None to declare.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Warschawski, Y., Elbaz, A., Segal, G. et al. Gait characteristics and quality of life perception of patients following tibial plateau fracture. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg 135, 1541–1546 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00402-015-2325-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00402-015-2325-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation