Young patients find lack of rehabilitation programs for their needs after hip fracture
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Young and middle-aged adults with hip fractures face continual challenges through 3.5 years after their injury, according to results of a study to highlight patients’ recovery experiences.
“Participants expressed continuous negative implications in their daily lives, such as pain, stiffness, reduced physical abilities and fear of new falls,” Charlotte Myhre Jensen, PhD, of Odense University Hospital in Odense, Denmark, said at the Virtual EFORT Congress.
She and her colleagues embarked on this study of 19 patients younger than 60 years old who were from Denmark and Sweden because “a large body of knowledge regarding the causes, treatment and clinical outcomes of hip fracture predominantly focus on the elderly, but little is known about the outcomes and experiences of adults under 60 years of age.”
At 0.7 to 3 years after the hip fracture incident, a Swedish and a Danish researcher interviewed each patient, focusing on their experiences. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed and interpreted by the researchers.
Patients expressed sentiments of “becoming old” from one day to the next, the interview transcripts showed.
In addition, patients said they felt they were considered a burden by their colleagues, according to Jensen, who said patients expressed “having symptoms that were neglected by a routine-driven system with responses as, ‘You’re young. You’ll soon rehabilitate.’”
Concerning rehabilitation, patients found available programs were “designed for old people,” she said, and noted the patients commented on a lack of rehabilitation programs specific to their individual needs and programs focused on helping them get back to work.
“Although acquiring a hip fracture in individuals younger than 60 years still causes significant challenges up to 3 years after the incident, these individuals request rehabilitation programs targeted to younger adult needs in order to strengthen their path to recovery,” Jensen said.
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Svensson H, et al. Paper 924. Presented at: Virtual EFORT Congress; Oct. 28-30, 2020.
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