Continuous passive motion may provide faster rehabilitation vs physical therapy
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SAN DIEGO — Continuous passive motion after arthroscopic elbow contracture release may provide faster and better rehabilitation compared with physical therapy, according to results presented here.
Shawn W. O’Driscoll, MD, PhD, and colleagues randomly assigned 60 patients undergoing arthroscopic elbow contracture release to be treated postoperatively with continuous passive motion (CPM) or physical therapy. Researchers considered improvement in range of motion at 1-year follow-up as the primary outcome.
“Then each patient filled out a diary every day ... to evaluate ongoing patient reported outcomes and their function, including when they were able to achieve certain goals that they had determined preoperatively,” O’Driscoll, professor of orthopedic surgery at Mayo Clinic, told Healio Orthopedics about research presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting. “We assessed them back personally in the clinic with a full evaluation at 6 weeks, 3 months and 1 year.”
O’Driscoll noted the CPM group had significantly greater range of motion compared with the physical therapy group.
“Even more important was the percentage of lost motion that was gained, meaning that if their preoperative state was a more severe contracture, then their total arc of motion gained was greater than if their pre-arc of motion was a lesser severe contracture,” O’Driscoll said.
He added patients in the CPM group also had greater recovery of flexion and functional arc of motion, as well as a significantly faster speed of recovery.
“Based on the fact that we observed this benefit of CPM, in particular with respect to the speed of recovery, we felt that the indications for CPM, which in the past we’ve used routinely, are best now applied to patients who either have moderate to severe contractures or any patient with any degree of contracture for whom the rate of recovery is very important,” O’Driscoll said.
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O’Driscoll SW, et al. Paper 700. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; Aug. 31-Sept. 3, 2021; San Diego.
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