This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Targeted exercises increase abductor strength in older patients after hemiarthroplasty for proximal femoral fractures
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
VIENNA — In elderly patients who have recently undergone hemiarthroplasty for proximal femoral fractures, targeted progressive strengthening exercises appear to increase isometric muscle strength of abductors and decrease the strength deficit of the fractured hip relative to the contralateral hip, according to a study to be presented as part of the Free Papers award session for trauma at the 18th EFORT Annual Congress in Vienna.
In the double-blind, stratified, randomized clinical study, researchers evaluated 96 patients, aged 70 years to 84 years, after hemiarthroplasty performed for Garden type 3 and 4 femoral neck fractures. Patients were placed into two equally numbered subgroups. For 12 weeks, the control group used the standard physiotherapy regimen, while the research group followed the standard program as well as an active abductors exercise program. This program entailed gradual encumbrance in different body positions and increasing ranges of motion as well as sets of repetitions. At the end of the third postoperative month and again at the end of the sixth month, the researchers measured isometric strength of abductors using a reliable electronic dynamometer. They also calculated the ratio of abductors of fractured hip to contralateral hip. A P value of less than .05 was considered to be statistically significant.
The researchers found that at the end of 3 months, the isometric strength of hip abductor muscles in the fractured limbs of the research group was 19.0 lbs ± 2.9 lbs vs. 13.99 ± 1.8 lbs in the control group. The abductors’ ratios at the end of 3 months were 79.9% ± 2.3% in the research group vs. 77.0% ± 0.5%. At the end of 6 months, the research group had abductors isometric strength of 80.7% ± 3.1% vs. 73.6% ± 3.0%.
“Prevention of future falls is essential for the elderly with a previous hip fracture, as the odds of a new fracture are six to 20 times higher than the initial fracture within the first year,” study presenter Efstathios Chronopoulos, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, told Orthopaedics Today Europe. “The goal of a targeted progressive strengthening program postoperatively is to increase the isometric muscle strength and reduce the strength deficit of the fractured side compared to the contralateral hip. That helps the patient to walk easily and safely, minimizing the risk for a future fall and fracture.”
Reference:
Chronopoulos E, et al. Paper #2272. Scheduled to be presented: 2 June 2017 at 10:39 to 10:47 in the Helsinki Room at the 18th EFORT Annual Congress; 31 May - 2 June 2017; Vienna.
Source Info:
Efstathios Chronopoulos, MD, PhD, can be reached at Technological Educational Institution, Agiou Spiridonos 28, Egaleo 122 43, Athens, Greece; email: stathi24@yahoo.gr.
Disclosure: Chronopoulos reports no relevant financial disclosures.