Home exercises after volar locking plate fixation for distal radius fracture in the elderly are as effective as supervised physiotherapy -multicenter retrospective study-

Rehabilitation after Distal Radius Fractures: Opportunities for Improvement

“…[41][42][43][44][45] Three studies found opposite results, favoring home-exercise programs over supervised therapy, of which one showed clinically relevant differences in ROM and grip strength. 37,39,46 Other studies found no differences between supervised and home-based exercises. [31][32][33][34][35][36]40 Six studies compared supervised physiotherapy to other interventions (►Table 4).…”

“…Seventeen studies compared supervised to home-based exercises (►Table 3). [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] In almost all studies, patients started exercises within 1 week of operative fracture stabilization or cast removal (►Tables 3 and 4). In four studies, patients received 2 weeks of splint immobilization after volar plate fixation, before starting active exercises.…”

“…In four studies, patients received 2 weeks of splint immobilization after volar plate fixation, before starting active exercises. 35,[37][38][39] In one study, nonoperatively treated patients started exercises 6 weeks after cast removal, and in another trial, patients were only referred to a physiotherapist when they requested this. 30,40 Most studies provided patients with written exercise instructions.…”

“…30,40 Most studies provided patients with written exercise instructions. 31,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] Two trials provided video-based instructions. 30,35 Four trials found statistically significant advantages of supervised therapy over home exercises in grip strength and ROM, of which one showed clinically relevant differences.…”

“…Eleven studies provided patients with written instructions for exercises for home reference, 31,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] two used videobased instructions, 30,35 and ten trials did not report using any form of support tools for patients. [32][33][34][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] Seven studies described the used exercise protocol in detail, and four articles included a complete graphical depicted homeexercise protocol [35][36][37]43 .…”