Analysis of the effect of conservative treatment of distal radius fracture by telephone follow-up with clinic patients

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of the telephone visit for conservative treatment of distal radius fracture.Methods The clinical data were retrospectively analyzed from the patients with distal radius fractures treating with manual reduction and plaster fixation or small splintfixation from January 2007 to December 2008 (No telephone follow-up,group A,n =64) and from January 2009 to December 2010 (Telephone follow-up,group B,n =71).And group B received the telephone follow-up during the first week after discharge,then,follow-up was taken by the condition of patients.Then,the fracture healing situation and Gartland-Werley wrist score were observed.Results All patients were followed up 19 months on average.There were 9 cases in group A and 2 cases in group B who had loss of fracture reduction,but showed no significant difference (x2 =5.688,P =0.017) between two groups in incidence.Fracture healing was achieved.There were no significant differences(t =1.396,P =0.165)in fracture healing time between group A [(10.4-± 1.8)weeks] and group B [(10.9 ±2.8) weeks].Significant differences was found in the palmar tilt angle,the radial inclination angle and the radial length between the two group (t =3.268,2.216,2.692,respectively;P ＜0.05).At last follow-up,According to the Gartland-Werley score,the results were excellent in group B than that in group A (Z =-1.994,P =0.046) between two groups.Conclusions Distal radial fracture patients by telephone follow-up can prevent loss of reduction and guide the rehabilitation training for patients with satisfactory results. Key words: Rehabilitation; Telephone follow-up; Distal radius fracture; Conservative treatment; Loss of reduction