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Disability better correlates with subjective measures among patients with both radial and ulnar fractures
Bot AGJ. J Bone Joint Surg (Am). 2011; doi:10.2106/JBJS.J.00581.
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A long-term follow-up of patients who fractured both bones of the forearm shows a stronger link between disability and psychosocial aspects of impairment, rather than disability and objective measures.
The study also revealed similar disability between those who were skeletally mature and skeletally immature at the time of fracture.
The investigators conducted an average 21-year follow-up of 71 patients who sustained diaphyseal fractures of both the radius and ulna, and underwent operative or nonoperative treatment. The study included 36 patients who were skeletally mature and 35 who were skeletally immature at the time of fracture.
Long-term follow-up showed that most patients had satisfactory or excellent outcomes, and 72% had no pain. A comparison of the injured and uninjured arms revealed “small but significant differences” in wrist flexion/extension and rotation, the investigators wrote. Pain and pain catastrophizing were discovered as important predictors for disability.