Volar Locking Plates (VLP) have revolutionised the treatment of distal radius fractures allowing the anatomic reduction and stable fixation of the more comminuted and unstable of fractures. The benefits of this in terms of range of movement (ROM), pain and earlier return to work and daily activities is documented. However we were interested in was what improvements in wrist function patients made from 6 to 12 months after injury? We retrospectively looked at a series of 34 consecutive patients that had undergone VLP fixation through a standard anterior approach followed by early physiotherapy. We documented standard demographics and assessed function in terms of Range of Movement, Grip strength (GS), Modified Gartland and Werley score (MGWS), Patient Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE) and the quick DASH questionnaire at six and twelve months Two patients were excluded from analysis as they failed to make both assessments. Of the 32 remaining (26 female:6 male) the mean age was 53.2yrs; range (26–78). On average GS, PGS, VAS function and pain did not improve. There was a modest improvement in Movement; Wrist Flexon-13 deg, Wrist Extension-14deg, Radial Deviation-7deg, Ulnar Deviation-9deg. There was no improvement in pronation and supination. There was little improvement in qDASH, PRWE and mGW Scores with only a mean 1.8, 5.6 and 3.6 point improvement respectively.Methods
Results
