Correlation of psychomotor findings and the ability to partially weight bear

50 patients with a prescribed partial weight bearing at a target load of 15 kg following surgery were verbally instructed by a physical therapist. After the instruction and sufficient training with the physical therapist vertical ground reaction forces using matrix insoles were measured while walking with forearm crutches. Additionally, psychomotor skills were tested with the Motorische Leistungsserie (MLS). To test for correlations Spearman's Rank correlation was used. For further comparison of the two groups a Mann-Withney test was performed using Bonferroni correction.The patient's age and body weight significantly correlated with the ability to partially weight bear at a 15 kg target load. There were significant correlations between several subtests of the MLS and ground reaction forces measured while walking with crutches. Patients that were able to correctly perform partial weight bearing showed significant better psychomotor skills especially for those subtests where both hands had to be coordinated simultaneously.The ability to partially weight bear is associated with psychomotor skills. The MLS seems to be a tool that helps predicting the ability to keep within the prescribed load limits.Partial weight bearing is commonly prescribed after surgery on a lower extremity. It restricts weight bearing on the affected leg to avoid excessive loading that may result in a prolonged healing period or even a stop of the healing process [1-3]. It would be important to detect patients unable to accurately partially weight bear. Knowing in advance which patients were expected to overload the extremity would enable the surgeon to choose a different procedure with a more stable fixation or prescribe a different rehabilitation program. In several preceding studies it could be shown that patients are unable to control the load on the involved side as prescribed [2-6]. Chow et al. [1] found that muscle power of the contralateral extremity and the mental state influence the abi