RESIDUAL IMPAIRMENT AFTER LOWER-EXTREMITY FRACTURE

In a prospective follow-up study of 158 consecutive patients 18 to 64 years old with unilateral lower extremity fracture, our aim was to dis close the impairment and disability 6 months after the injury. The pat ients were interviewed within 1 week after the trauma, and all patient s returned to the hospital for an interview and a clinical assessment 6 months later. The disability was measured by administering the Sickn ess Impact Profile (SIP) to all patients by an interview process. SLP scores were calculated for pretraumatic and posttraumatic states. The pretraumatic SIP scores described the functional status before the inj ury. Additionally, three major aspects of impairments were measured 6 months after the fractures: range of motion, muscle strength, and pain . Most patients had a significantly higher SIP score 6 months after th e fracture(s) than pretraumatically. The mean overall SIP score was 2. 7 pretraumatically and 8.7 6 months posttraumatically. Major deficits in range of motion was observed, especially in the ankle joint. Additi onally, loss of muscle strength was observed in the thigh and calf mus cles in one fourth of the patients. Only low levels of residual pain w ere reported after 6 months.