Activities and impairments in the early stage of rehabilitation after Colles' fracture

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate problems in performing activities after Colles' fracture, and to correlate activity limitations with impairments in the early stage of rehabilitation.Method: Assessments were performed 1 and 5 weeks after removing plaster casts. A client-specific instrument, The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, and a disease-specific dichotomous scale of 10 activities of daily living were used. Range of motion, grip strength, pain and dexterity were also assessed according to standardized methods.Results: Thirty-three women, aged 51 – 87 years, with Colles' fracture treated with closed reduction and a plaster cast participated. Highly significant statistical and clinical improvements were found in the capacity, number and performance of activities. Problems were mainly classified as self-care activities at 1 week, and as productivity activities at 5 weeks, while problems in leisure activities were practically the same. However, one-third of the patients were not able to perform all basic activities of daily living at 5 weeks. Improvements in pain frequency, range of motion, grip strength and dexterity did not correlate very well with improvements in performance or the patients' satisfaction with the performance of their activities.Conclusions: The importance of assessing both impairments and activities in patients with Colles' fracture must be stressed.