Physiotherapy vs Telerehabilitation After Volar Plating of Distal Radius Fracture

Töölö Hospital

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Rehabilitation; Orthopedic Procedures; Postoperative Care; Wrist Fractures; Physical Therapy Modalities

Treatments: Other: Traditional physiotherapy; Other: Telerehabilitation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06365710

HUS/206/2022

Details and patient eligibility

About

Trial purpose is to research the outcome comparing traditional physiotherapy vs telerehabilitation after volar plating of distal radius fracture.

Patients with distal radius fracture that meet the operative criteria set by the Finnish Current Care guidelines are randomized (1:1 computer generated sequence with random block size) to two parallel groups and will undergo operative treatment and traditional physiotherapy vs telerehabilitation.

Baseline data is collected preoperatively and patients are followed at 1, 3 and 12 months after enrollment. The primary end-point is 3 months and the primary outcome is the Patient-Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE).

Enrollment: 84 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Distal radius fracture, which applies the surgical requirements
• age between 18 to 65 years
• Non concomitant injuries including ligament injuries and distal ulna fractures, however ulnar styloid avulsion is accepted
• No significant comorbidities
• No previous problems with the examined hand
• Ability to understand Finnish fluently

Exclusion criteria

• High energy or multiple injuries
• Open fractures
• Injury of both upper extremities
• Other operative injury on the same side
• Rheumatoid arthritis of other inflammatory joint disease
• Heavy smoker (over 20 cigarettes per day)
• Disease of medication slowing ossification
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Psychiatric disorder with poor treatment balance
• Neurological disorder which affects the function of the injured extremity
• Fixation material other than a volar locking plate
• Fracture fixation is not stable enough to start rehabilitation after 14 days

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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84 participants in 2 patient groups

Telerehabilitation

Experimental group

Description:

The telerehabilitation group will start the physiotherapy guided by the digital care pathway postoperatively. The pathway includes videos, photos, animations and written material for rehabilitation of the operated hand. The same weightbearing instructions and mobilization exercises are shown in the videos and photos as are instructed in the physiotherapist appointment in the traditional physiotherapy group.

Treatment:

Other: Telerehabilitation

Traditional Physiotherapy

Active Comparator group

Description:

The traditional physiotherapy group will attend appointment with the physiotherapist at two-week and five week timepoints. After this, this group can attend additional physiotherapist appointments if seen necessary by the physiotherapist or the surgeon.

Treatment:

Other: Traditional physiotherapy