Nail Position has an Influence on Anterior Knee Pain after Tibial Intramedullary Nailing

Our aim was to determine the possible relationship between anterior knee pain (AKP) and nail position marked as a distance from tip of nail to tibial plateau (NP) and to the tuberositas tibiae (NT). Nail position has an influence on anterior knee pain after tibial intramedullary nailing. We evaluated postoperative outcome results of 50 patients in the last 3 years with healed fractures initially treated with intramedullary (IM) reamed nails with 2 or 3 interlocking screws on both parts of the nail and with the use of medial paratendinous incision for nail entry portal. Patients marked a point on the visual analog scale (VAS) that corresponded to the level of postoperative AKP felt. Two groups of patients were formed on the basis of AKP (pain level was neglected): groups A and B, with and without pain, respectively. The difference between the two groups concerning NP measurements was statistically significant (p