The term “floating” used in traumatic orthopedics

• Published in: Medicine (Baltimore) Vol. 98; no. 7; p. e14497
• Main Authors: Mohamed, Sayid Omar, Ju, Weina, Qin, Ying, Qi, Baochang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc 01.02.2019; Wolters Kluwer Health
• Subjects: Age Factors; Ankle Injuries - classification; Arm Injuries - classification; Arm Injuries - therapy; Clavicle - injuries; Compartment Syndromes - etiology; Elbow - injuries; Fibula - injuries; Fracture Fixation, Internal - methods; Fractures, Bone - classification; Fractures, Bone - complications; Fractures, Bone - surgery; Fractures, Bone - therapy; Hip Injuries - classification; Hip Injuries - surgery; Humans; Knee Injuries - classification; Knee Injuries - surgery; Metacarpal Bones - injuries; Metatarsal Bones - injuries; Orthopedic Procedures; Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis; Terminology as Topic
• ISSN: 0025-7974; 1536-5964
• DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000014497

The term "floating" is used in orthopedic literature to describe certain patterns of skeletal injuries that share one common character which is disruption and discontinuity of bones above and below a joint. The first time used in orthopedic literature being in late 1970 to describe a type of elbow injury. Later the word was used increasingly and applied to a variety of injuries affecting the knee, shoulder, hip, forearm, hand, and ankle. Currently, there are about 12 different skeletal injuries described as floating. The aim of this article was to define the term "floating" used in traumatic orthopedics and to discuss its history, mechanism of injury in each region, treatment and outcomes based on the currently available literature. As there were many separate articles describing different sites of floating injuries, this review aimed to summarize all floating injuries into 1 article.