Custom-Made Finger Orthoses Have Fewer Skin Complications Than Prefabricated Finger Orthoses in the Management of Mallet Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Conservative management of mallet injuries: A national survey of current practice in the UK

“…This national survey reflects the variation in the literature regarding the conservative management of mallet finger including recommended duration of protection immobilisation, time to discharge to GP, assessment of adherence to treatment, and type of splint. Several systematic reviews including a Cochrane review have highlighted a lack of evidence about optimum splint type[3,4,6]. Our findings, however, demonstrate clear preferences within the therapeutic and surgical specialities towards custom made splints and off-the-shelf splints, respectively.…”

“…If untreated, a mallet injury may become chronic leading to a swan neck deformity of the finger. As approximately two-thirds of mallet injuries affect the dominant hand [3] Immobilisation with a splint is the most common conservative treatment for undisplaced, closed bony and closed soft tissue mallet injuries but there is a lack of consensus regarding the duration of immobilisation [4] and the type of splint used [3][4][5][6].…”

“…Randomised trials are considered best evidence for determining the effectiveness of an intervention, but several systematic reviews have demonstrated a lack of well-designed and reported trials in mallet finger [3,4,6]. A well-designed large-scale RCT is therefore required to determine the optimum conservative management of mallet injury.…”

Review article: Best practice management of closed hand and wrist injuries in the emergency department (part 5 of the musculoskeletal injuries rapid review series)

“…Simple buddy taping and/or placing injuries into the position of safe immobilisation are not optimal immobilisation positions for all hand injuries. Certain conditions, like skier's thumb, volar plate injuries at the proximal interphalangeal joint and mallet fingers, require particular positioning for optimum healing . Particular attention should be paid to correct positional splinting to improve patient outcomes.…”

“…Certain conditions, like skier's thumb, volar plate injuries at the proximal interphalangeal joint and mallet fingers, require particular positioning for optimum healing. 26,50,53,58,65 Particular attention should be paid to correct positional splinting to improve patient outcomes.…”