Appropriate surgical position is critical to the success of surgery, and inappropriate surgical positions can lead to postoperative complications and ultimately have the potential to precipitate legal action.

Relevant complications include:

1. peripheral nerve damage due to improper positioning; Dr Cheney et al. reported that approximately 16% of patients went to court due to nerve damage caused by improper surgical positioning. 2. pressure-related complications.
2. pressure-related complications such as pressure sores, alopecia areata, and others. The development of pressure sores is directly related to the duration of ischaemia: for patients undergoing surgery for more than 4 hours, the risk of pressure sores increases by 33% for every half hour of longer duration. The risk of pressure ulcers increases dramatically in patients with diabetes mellitus, longer surgery times, older age, lower BMI, or malnutrition.

Preventive measures for pressure ulcers include the use of thicker, softer surgical bed pads, and the use of supplemental soft pads on the arms or areas where bony structures are prominent. Studies have found that the use of special foam pads can reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers by 9%.

It should be noted that the patient's position during orthopaedic surgery is prone to change, so the patient's position should be verified periodically during surgery.

3. Eye injury. The patient prone position when the eye is under pressure for too long is easy to cause damage, and even lead to blindness.

4. Semi-truncal position for too long may easily lead to increased intrafascial pressure in the healthy leg, so prolonged use of this position should be avoided during surgery to reduce the probability of osteofascial compartment syndrome.