Article

Immobilization of the wrist joint with a splint is an established
approach for ulnar-sided pain due to ulnocarpal abutment syndrome. However,
patients have a tendency to stop wearing the splints because of its inconvenience
and there have been no reports based on splint therapy. OBJECTIVE: We
investigated the usefulness of a newly designed custom-made aluminum splint for
ulnar-sided wrist pain. STUDY DESIGN: This was a cohort study of the aluminum
splint therapy for the patients who had been primarily treated with a
conventional splint but ceased to use it because of the inconvenience in
activities of daily living. METHODS: The subjects included 10 female patients
(mean age = 44.2 years). The outcome was assessed using the visual analogue scale
score for pain, the disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand score, range of
motion of the wrist, and the grip strength. The mean follow-up period after
wearing the aluminum splint was 8.8 months. RESULTS: All parameters, including
the visual analogue scale pain and disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand
scores, improved significantly (p < 0.05) following use of the aluminum splint
relative to the pretreatment scores. Seven patients continued to use the aluminum
splint, and three of the seven had complete remission from related pain.
CONCLUSION: Constant use of the aluminum splint during the study period was
associated with improvement in the ulnar-sided wrist pain scores, which
reconfirmed that increased adherence to splint use in daily activities is an
important intentional behavioral strategy. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Although the
custom splint is effective for alleviation of wrist pain in ulnocarpal abutment
syndrome, continuity of splint use is a key element of conservative treatment.
This study showed that a splint that patients were willing to wear in their daily
life was a useful device for alleviation of pain.
CI - (c) The International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics 2014.

Langue : ANGLAIS