A doctor has assessed you and decided you need to go into an above knee cast.
These casts go from your thigh to the toes. This cast is used to immobilise the knee and ankle – usually for knee injuries or proximal lower limb injuries.
Getting it wet could irritate your skin. Either wrap a towel around it and keep away from water or purchase a waterproof cover (these are available online).
Its important to keep your toes and knee moving. Clench your toes and open for 10 minutes every hour – this will help keep the muscles active and help the circulation. Do straight leg raises several times an hour and this will help reduce muscle weakness.
When you are either laying down or sitting, rest your leg on a cushion or pillow with your heel higher than your hip and your knee.
Contact plaster room if your cast becomes broken.
Be vigilant of cast rubbing/burning sensation inside cast. Contact plaster room ASAP.
If you have pain that cannot be controlled with pain relief you must attend A&E immediately.
Never attempt to remove a cast yourself.
Do not put plastic bags around the cast, these are not waterproof and can cause skin issues under the cast.
This can cause additional skin problems under the cast that may require further medical treatment.
If there are rough edges or your skin is irritated around the ends, contact plaster room.
Swelling or the symptoms of swelling of the lower limbs is common post injury/surgery swelling will go up and down depending on the activity the patient is doing at the time.
In order to alleviate swelling/symptoms of swelling, leg must be elevated with the foot higher than the hip joint – ideally toes in line with nose this should be done as much as possible – swelling is very common if you have had the leg elevated then you bring your leg down- it will swell but just need to elevate as soon as possible.
It is very important to keep the joints not in cast moving. See exercise video.
It is important to be vigilant of lower limb casts rubbing/causing pain. Prolonged pressure on a certain area has the potential to cause skin damage Common areas this could occur in are
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Before you ring us…
It is really important that you use this Plaster Room site to access all the advice and information that we think essential for your successful recovery.
Please only ring us for one of these specified reasons:
