Elbow flexion contractures: Treatment by anterior release and continuous passive motion

The Posttraumatic Stiff Elbow: A Review of the Literature

“…8,125,127,132,202,203 Continuous passive motion (CPM) is used by many authors. 5,8,9,51,52,125,132,134,135,142,203,204 However, there have been only 2 studies that investigated the role of CPM in the postoperative management of operative elbow release, one of these presumably being an Figure 5. Transverse section of a normal elbow before and after distention.…”

Surgical Release for Posttraumatic Loss of Elbow Flexion

“…Many authors have reported the outcomes of surgical release in patients with an extrinsic posttraumatic contracture. Earlier studies focused on the release of the flexion contracture through an anterior approach [2][3][4][5][6] , in which only the anterior aspect of the capsule was released to gain more extension. Several authors have suggested a lateral approach for treatment of posttraumatic elbow stiffness [7][8][9][10] .…”

Outcomes of open arthrolysis of the elbow without post-operative passive stretching

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8] In 1990, Morrey 9 and Husband and Hastings 10 independently reported good results after arthrolysis carried out under continual brachial plexus block with continuous passive movement (CPM) post-operatively. These techniques are now widely used, but controversy remains about the use of passive stretching in the early post-operative period and other adjunctive treatments, such as the use of turnbuckle splints advocated by Ring et al 11 and Faber and King 8 and manipulation under anaesthetic proposed by Tan et al 12 The aim of this study was to report on the outcome at one year of a post-operative rehabilitation regime without the use of passive stretching after open elbow arthrolysis.…”