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  4. Vol 5, Issue 3, 2024

Efficacy of rehabilitation therapy for adults with distal radius fractures: A systematic review

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DOI: 10.23977/medsc.2024.050314 | Downloads: 5 | Views: 108

Author(s)

Tan Zhi 1

Affiliation(s)

1 Department of Traditional Chinese Rehabilitation Therapy, Loudi Vocational and Technical College, Loudi, Hunan Province, China

Corresponding Author

Tan Zhi

ABSTRACT

Distal radial fracture(DRF) is one of the most common fractures in the elderly population. Different rehabilitation measures can result in different outcomes.To assess the effectiveness of various rehabilitation interventions in adults aged over 40 years with distal radial fractures. This systematic review searched in Cochrane Database, PubMed and Embase. All included literature was randomized clinical trials (RCTs) with a publication date before January 2022. A total of 10 RCTs were included. Different rehabilitation treatment protocols were evaluated: cross-education, hand therapy, polychromatic light therapy, mental exercises and mirror therapy, splinting, scapular exercises, pneumatic compression, and supervised physiotherapy. Hand strength exercises and supervised home exercises showed significant differences in the medium term. Supervised home exercise, mental exercises and mirror therapy indicated statistic difference in both short and medium term compared to the control group. However, pneumatic therapy did not find significant differences in all outcome indicators in the short term. For all other interventions, only moderate, limited, contradictory or no evidence was found. There is still no strong evidence that rehabilitation measures are effective in mid-aged and elderly patients with DRF. However, some rehabilitation measures (e.g.hand strength exercises, cross-education and supervised home exercise) have been shown to provide benefits, but further high quality research is still needed.

KEYWORDS

Distal radial fracture, cross-education hand therapy, polychromatic light therapy, mental exercises and mirror therapy, splinting, scapular exercises, pneumatic compression, supervised physiotherapy

CITE THIS PAPER

Tan Zhi, Efficacy of rehabilitation therapy for adults with distal radius fractures: A systematic review. MEDS Clinical Medicine (2024) Vol. 5: 88-94. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/medsc.2024.050314.

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