@article{article_190822, title={Demographic features and difficulties in rehabilitation in patients referred to hand rehabilitation unit for phalangeal fractures}, journal={Acta Orthopaedica et Traumatologica Turcica}, volume={40}, pages={274–279}, year={2006}, author={Sahin, Fusun and Yucel, Serap and Yilmaz, Figen and Ergoz, Ernur and Kuran, Banu}, keywords={Finger injuries/surgery/rehabilitation, range of motion, articular, thumb/injuries}, abstract={Objectives : We evaluated demographic and occupational features of patients with phalangealfractures of the hand, etiologies and types of injuries, and the results of rehabilitation. <br />Methods : The study included 91 fingers of 62 patients (54 males, 8 females; mean age 28±13 years; range 4 to 59 years) who were referred to our hand rehabilitation unit for phalangeal fractures. Demographic features, the cause and localization of injury, the type of surg e r y, time from surg e r y to rehabilitation, and the follow-up period were determined. At the end of rehabilitation, range of motion (ROM) of the phalangeal joint and total ROM of the injured fingers were assessed using the Strickland-Glogovac rating system. <br />Results : A great majority of injuries were caused by work accidents, followed by sport injuries and falls occurring in students. Sixty patients (96.8%) were right–handed. The fractures occurred in the dominant hand in 29 patients (46.8%). The majority of patients (n=45) were primary school graduates. The most common mechanism of injury was accidents related to heavy work machinery (n=18). The most commonly injured finger and the phalanx were the third finger (n=25, 27.5%) and the proximal phalanx (n=59, 56.7%), respectively. Only 27 patients (43.6%) had a sufficient follow-up with a mean of 79.7±46.6 days (range 30 to 254 days). Following rehabilitation, the mean ROM and the total ROM were 45.0±22.9° and 63.3±16.1° for the injured joint and the thumb, and 31.3±22.5° and 122±60.3° for the injured joint and the other fingers, <br />respectively. <br />Conclusion : Our data provide important insight into appropriate treatment and rehabilitation of phalangeal fractures, in particular, shortcomings in the treatment and follow-up.}, number={4}, publisher={Turkish Association of Orthopaedics and Traumatology}