• Quanjun Cui, Laura H Schapiro, Matthew C Kinney, Peter Simon, Andrew Poole, and Wendy M Novicoff.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Box 800159, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. qc4q@virginia.edu
• Am J Med Qual. 2013 Jul 1;28(4):335-8.

AbstractThe objective of this study was to determine whether the use of a knee immobilizer brace reduces patient falls associated with the recent use of femoral nerve blocks for pain control after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The authors conducted a retrospective study to investigate fall rates before and after the introduction of an immobilizer brace. The demographics of patients and total cost of care were examined. Of the 600 TKA patients who did not receive a knee immobilizer, 22 (3.7%) experienced a fall. In contrast, of the 502 patients who received knee immobilizers, only 8 patients (1.6%) fell. This difference achieves statistical significance (P = .04). Given the considerable costs associated with hospital falls and the significant reduction of these falls related to knee immobilizer use shown in this study, the authors recommend that knee immobilizers be given to TKA patients as standard practice.

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