Knee Fracture

Your knee joint is located between lower end thigh bone, knee cap, and the upper end of shin bone – femur, tibia, and patella respectively. The fractures can involve injury of the upper end of tibia, the lower end of the femur, or patella. These are mostly associated with meniscus tears and ligament injuries, such as ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL, etc. It occurs when a person gets a direct blow to these bones or falls down on the knees directly with force. The knee cap may crack or even break into pieces with the fall.

According to orthopedists, immediate medical attention is crucial in case of knee fractures.

Causes

• Sports injuries
• Fall from height
• Motor vehicle accidents

Symptoms

• Swelling
• Unbearable pain
• Not able to bear the weight
• Restricted joint movement
• Joint deformity

Diagnosis

• X-Rays
• CT-scan
• MRI

Treatment

Nonsurgical Treatment

Splints or cast: Your orthopedist will provide you with a splint or cast to wear on your knee. It helps prevent movement of your leg and keeps the fractured end of the bone in position during the healing process.

Rest: During healing, you must not bear weights for almost 6-8 weeks while the cast or splint is on.

Medications: Different types of pain medications are provided to ease the pain in your knee.

Surgical Treatments

Your orthopedic specialist will recommend surgery in severe cases. The type of surgery depends on the type of fracture, like for:

Transverse fracture: The surgeon uses screws/pins and wires to fix this two-part fracture. Along with the screws and wires, they will also use a ‘figure-of-eight’ configuration band. The band brings back the two broken pieces together with pressure. The surgical process is appropriate for healing fractures close to the patella centre. The broken pieces at the ends of the patella are very small for this surgical method. Extremely small breaks can get overcompressed with the tension band.

Comminuted fracture: In some fractures, the bottom or top of the knee cap breaks into multiple small pieces. It occurs when the patella is pulled away from the injury and crushed when you fall. As the bone fragments are extremely small to fix, the orthopedist will remove it, and reattach the loose patellar tendon to the left patellar bone.

In the case when the knee cap is broken in multiple small pieces at the centre, a combination of wires and screws are used to fix it. The last option for this kind of knee fracture is the complete removal of patellar bone.        

Feel free to get in touch with us to book an appointment for knee fracture treatment.