Floating Knee

What Is A Floating Knee?

‘Floating Knee’ is the term used to describe the unusual injury of fractures to both the tibia and femur, resulting in the knee having no structural continuity with the adjacent bones and is hence ‘floating’. This is a rare injury and is usually the result of severe trauma, such as a road traffic incident or a fall from a height.

Therefore, there are often additional injuries, such as ligament damage, injuries to other limbs, and head trauma. You can read more about other injuries to the knee that may be present following trauma in our related articles: Medial Collateral Ligament Injury, Lateral Collateral Ligament Injury, Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury, Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injury, Meniscus Injury Recovery Time.

Classification Of Floating Knee

Treatment For Floating Knee

The most common treatments for ‘floating knee’ are non-operative with the use of external hinged braces, operative with external fixation and intramedullary nailing, and combined treatments. Operative treatments and a combination of operative and braces are preferred for a floating knee due to better long-term outcomes. These include the better union of the fractures, better knee range of movement, and better speed of return to functional activities. But there are often complications with this injury, including infection, nonunion or malunion, and damage to blood vessels and nerves (Dwyer et al, 2005). In some cases, it may not be possible to treat in these ways. In especially complicated cases, if the damage is severe amputation may be necessary. If this injury occurs in children it can cause issues such as leg length discrepancy if the fracture disrupts the growth plate.