Published online Nov 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i32.9741
Peer-review started: June 3, 2021
First decision: July 5, 2021
Revised: May 26, 2021
Accepted: September 7, 2021
Article in press: September 7, 2021
Published online: November 16, 2021
Processing time: 159 Days and 18.1 Hours
Hands are one of the most common burn sites in children. Hypertrophic scar contractures in hands after wound healing result in further reductions in their range of motion (ROM), motility, and fine motor activities. Rehabilitation can improve the function of hands. But the optimal time of rehabilitation intervention is still unclear. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the effects of early rehabilitation management of paediatric burnt hands and to compare the efficacy between early and later rehabilitation intervention.
To investigate the effects of early rehabilitation management of paediatric burnt hands.
A total of 52 children with burnt hands were allocated into the early intervention group (≤ 1 mo from onset) and a late intervention group (> 1 mo from onset) between January 2016 and December 2017. The children received the same rehabilitation programme including skin care, scar massage, passive ROM exercises, active ROM exercises, compression therapy, orthotic devices wearing and game or music therapy. Rehabilitation assessments were performed before and after the rehabilitation treatment.
In the early intervention group, the ROM of the hands was significantly improved after rehabilitation (P = 0.001). But in the late group the effect was not significant statistically (P = 0.142). In the early group, 38.5% of the patients showed significant improvement, while in the late group, 69.2% of the patients showed no significant improvement. The time from onset to posttraumatic rehabilitation (P = 0.0007) and length of hospital stay (P = 0.003) were negatively correlated with the hand function improvement. The length of rehabilitation stay was positively correlated with the hand function improvement (P = 0.005).
These findings suggest that early rehabilitation might show better results in terms of ROM.
Core Tip: This is a retrospective study to evaluate the efficacy of early rehabilitation management of paediatric burnt hands. Hands are one of the most common burn sites in children. Hypertrophic scar contractures in hands after wound healing result in further reductions in their range of motion (ROM), motility, and fine motor activities. In order to investigate the situation of hand function in burned children with rehabilitation, we analyzed the demographic and medical information in these burned children and compared the efficacies of early rehabilitation and late rehabilitation for children with hand burns. We found that in the early intervention group, 38.5% of the patients showed significant improvement in the active ROM, while in the late group, 69.2% of the patients showed no significant improvement. Hand function improvement in burned children was negatively correlated with the time from onset to posttraumatic rehabilitation intervention, while the length of rehabilitation stay was positively correlated with the improvement of hand function.