Immediate Weight Bearing of Plated Both-Bone Forearm Fractures in the Poly-Trauma Patient is Safe

A weight bearing score (WB) was created to stratify lower extremity injuries and their weight bearing limitations: WB as tolerated- 0; Partial WB- 1; Non-WB- 2. Each lower extremity was graded based on its weight bearing recommendation and a sum score of both lower extremities was recorded.

Lower extremity limbs without injury were scored as weight bearing as tolerated. This score was designed to reflect the expected amount of stress the forearm fixation would experience due to the increased reliance on upper extremity weight bearing with mobilization. 213 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome was a composite of post-operative complications, which included deep surgical site infection, instrumentation failure, and a non-union.