Saturday, April 10, 2010

Elbow ROM Following Humeral Fractures

The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery published research on the longitudinal evaluation of elbow range of motion following pediatric supracondylar humeral fractures. Three hundred seventy three patients who had a diagnosis of supracondylar humeral fractures were either treated with casting or surgery. Follow up revealed that elbow flexion and extension increased the most during the first month following cast removal with improvements seen up to 48 weeks after the injury. The younger patients (less than 5 years of age) fared better than older patients. The fractures that required surgery exhibited a 10% decreased in range of motion (with respect to the contra-lateral side) when compared to the group whose elbows were casted.

Reference: Spencer, Hillard T., Wong, Melissa, Fong, Yi-Jen, Penman, Adam, Silva, Mauricio Prospective Longitudinal Evaluation of Elbow Motion Following Pediatric Supracondylar Humeral Fractures J Bone Joint Surg Am 2010 92: 904-910

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