ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 1999 September;39(3):249-52

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

A new thermoplastic splint for proximal interphalangeal joint flexion contractures

Benaglia P. G., Sartorio F., Franchignoni F.

Service of Occupational Rehabilitation and Ergonomics, “S. Maugeri” Foundation, IRCCS Rehabilitation Institute of Veruno (Novara), Italy

Background. Aim of ­this tech­ni­cal ­note is to ­describe the fab­ri­ca­tion pro­ce­dure of a new ther­mo­plas­tic stat­ic-pro­gres­sive ­hand-­based ­splint for PIP ­joint flex­ion con­trac­tures, and ­report its ­effects in the treat­ment of a ­small ­group of sports­men.
Methods. The seri­al-stat­ic ­splint con­sists of a ­short met­a­car­pal gaunt­let ­base, ­with a ­hole for the ­thumb and a dor­sal fin­ger gut­ter ­that ­extends to the dis­tal extrem­ity. A low-tem­per­a­ture ther­mo­plas­tic mate­ri­al, two ­loop fas­ten­er ­straps, ­three ­small piec­es of ­self-adhe­sive ­hook fas­ten­er and cool­ing ­spray are ­required. The ortho­sis has ­been test­ed on ­four pro­fes­sion­al vol­ley­ball ­players (3 ­females and 1 ­male), ­aged 18-24 ­years, suf­fer­ing ­from PIP ­joint flex­ion con­trac­tures ­after trau­mat­ic ­hand inju­ries ­occurred 2 to 3 ­months ­before. Patients ­wore the ­splint for 1 ­hour fol­lowed by 1 ­hour of ­rest (6 ­times per day), for 2 to 3 ­weeks. During the rest­ing peri­ods ­patients per­formed a few ­sets of ­active ROM exer­cis­es at ­their PIP ­joint.
Results. This new ­splint ­design dem­on­strat­ed to be effec­tive in ear­ly recov­ery of com­plete PIP ­joint exten­sion and sub­jects ­resumed ­soon ­their ­sports activ­ity.
Conclusions. Our ­device is ­easy to fab­ri­cate and to use and com­fort­able for ­patients.