Kinesiotherapy in the physical rehabilitation of patients with fractures of the upper extremities

Abstract

To study the effectiveness of kinesiotherapy in medical rehabilitation of patients with isolated fractures of the forearm bones.The aim of the study. The study was conducted in 44 patients aged 19-85 years with isolated fractures of the forearm bones, who underwent surgical treatment with osteosynthesis. In the control group (n=21), a standard course of medical rehabilitation was conducted in the postoperative period, which included massage, physiotherapy exercises and magneototherahy. In the main group (n=23), in the postoperative period, the kinesiotherapy of the shoulder and forearm was performed against the background of a standard course of medical rehabilitation. Kinesio tapes were used on the 2nd day after the operation and applied for 72 hours, after which they were changed to new ones. The duration of the study was 12 months. The severity of the pain syndrome, the amplitude of the movement of the wrist joint and the rotational movements of the forearm, the strength of the fist grasp, the function of the upper limb, the quality of life of the patients were evaluated. Results of the research. The use of kinesiotherapy in the period from 1 month after the operation significantly reduced the subjective severity of the pain syndrome by an average of 22.7 %, reduced the number of patients with persistent edema by 1.75 times and increased the number of patients without edema by 2.3 times compared with application of a standard course of medical rehabilitation. The parameters of the amplitude of motion in the wrist joint, rotational movements, and the dynamometry of the fist grasp in patients of the main group were slightly higher than those in the control group throughout the observation period. In the long-term period, the number of patients with excellent treatment outcomes in the main group was 1.5 times higher than in the control group, the number of patients with satisfactory results was 1.3 times lower than in the control group. Conclusions. Kinesiotaping is a promising, simple, non-traumatic method that does not cause side effects and complications, significantly reduces the pain syndrome, improve the quality of life of patients, this method helps earlier relief of postoperative edema and fuller recovery of clinical and functional condition of the radial-carpal joint. Kinesiotaping can be used as one of the methods in the complex recovery of patients with isolated fractures of the forearm with the physical rehabilitation and adaptive physical education.