Exercise works just like surgery and casts for broken hand –

Metatarsal fractures, otherwise called metatarsal fractures, are very common injuries in the emergency or emergency department.

Fractures can occur, for example, during sports, due to falls, car accidents, or if you hit something hard with your fist, such as during a fight. Injuries are more common in young people.

Metatarsal fractures. Photo: Academic Hospital

If a misalignment is detected, surgery may be required. Where there is significant misalignment, the hand stem is often bolted. Then, as a general rule, the patient is allowed to wear a splint for a shorter period of time.

A new way to train

In the new study, which was conducted out of University Hospital, a relatively new exercise-oriented, non-invasive treatment method was compared to conventional treatment with surgery and a plaster cast. Those who took part in the study were given the wrong posture after a fracture.

The patients were randomly divided into two groups who received treatment. Patients in the surgery group were treated with a plaster splint for two weeks, while the others began exercising the hand as soon as they joined the study, within ten days of injury.

Training consists of actively extending the fingers and stretching the hand at least 25 times per day. This is distributed over five occasions during the day, using the muscular strength of the affected hand. The rest of the time the patients were allowed to use their hands completely freely.

Equally good results

It turned out that those who only did sports had as good results as those who underwent surgery and splints. Those who were part of the training group also got much shorter sick leave, says Fredrik Peronsson, an ST in hand surgery at the Academic Hospital and researcher at Uppsala University.

Patients became less stiff and recovered more quickly. Nor did the method of treatment affect hand function, pain, or satisfaction.

Resources in healthcare can be freed up

Fredrik Perronson hopes that in the future, more people will be treated with exercise after an oblique fracture of the metatarsal bone.

– It can significantly reduce risks related to surgery and short sick leave, without worsening treatment outcome. Fewer surgeries for metatarsal fractures will also free up more resources to operate on these injuries as we know that surgery is essential to good outcomes.

Academic subject:

Nonsurgical versus surgical treatment of displaced vertebral fractures of the finger. Likely, non-inferior, randomized controlled trialAnd the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

Contact:

Fredrik Peronsson, ST in hand surgery at Academic Hospital and doctoral student at Uppsala University
[email protected]