Assessment of knee pain and knee range of motion (ROM) in distal third femur shaft fractures managed with retrograde (RG) intramedullary locking nail: A Retrospective study.

Abstract

Objective: To assess knee pain and ROM in distal third femoral Fracture managed with RG intramedullary nailing technique. Study Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital, Lahore. Period: November 2020 to March 2021. Material & Methods: 38 patients with extra-articular distal femoral Fracture were surgically treated in our center with an RG IM nail. The functional Outcome of the knee for knee pain and knee ROM was assessed using a modified Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Knee Score. Results: In this study, a total of 38 patients were diagnosed with distal third femur shaft fractures managed with retrograde (RG) intramedullary locking nail; among these, 31(81.6%) were males, and 7(18.4%) were females. The mean age of patients was 29.76±11.87, ranging from (16-50) years. In more than half of the cases, 30(78.9%) had a history of injury as RTA and 8(21.1%) sustained fall. The right side effected 65.8% of cases compared to the left side. 60.53% of cases had excellent functional Outcomes due to HSS sore between 85-100, 7.89% had good Outcomes because of scores ranging from 70-84, 26.32 had fair, and 5.285 had poor outcomes, respectively. There was no case with extension lag. Conclusion: Based on this study, RG IM nail fixation of distal extra-articular femur fracture can be safely performed, and improved knee function score can be anticipated with meticulous patient selection and adherence to proper postoperative physical therapy protocol.