A student was talking to me the other day about partial weight bearing. As a
consequence of our discussion the following issues arose, and I would be
interested to hear your views. If you are aware of any research in the area
I would also be interested as the student has not (so far) managed to find
anything relevant.
It appears that some therapists give quite specific instructions about how
much weight should be taken through a limb when a patient is partial weight
bearing. For example the patient should only take 50% of body weight. But do
we have any evidence to support this level of precision?
Is there any research into how strong (perhaps as a percentage of original
'strength') a bone is in the later stages of healing (union and
consolidation)?
Does anyone know of any evidence that patients are able to weight bear to a
specified level or is it rather a nonsense to tell a patient to take 50% of
his/her weight?
Just out of curiosity I wonder what sort of instructions clinical
colleagues give when trying to convey the concept of partial weight bearing
to a patient. Obviously some use a percentage of body weight, others appear
to suggest to patients that there is a tomato or an egg under the sole of
the foot and it should not be squashed!
Marion Trew
University of Brighton
UK
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