Table 1.
Demographic data, included patients, surgical approach, and physiotherapy protocol.
| First author | Patients/cases | Acute/chronic#/ partial%/revisions@ |
Included patients | Mean age (y) (range) | Mean follow-up [m] (range) | Surgical approach | Comments | Postoperative physiotherapy protocol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) Bain, 2000 [10] | 12 | 10/2# | 10 | 39 (25–50) | 16 (8–29) | SA | Cast for 1 week, motion as tolerated, no heavy lifting for 3 months | |
| (2) Greenberg, 2003 [11] | 14 | 11/3# | 11 | 45 (NR) | 20 (13–28) | SA | Bulky dressings, after 3-4 days' full ROM, no extension > 30°, full use in 3 months | |
| (3) Spencer Jr., 2008 [20] | 15 | 15 | 15 | 46 (31–64) | 23 (12–36) | SA | Group 1∗ (6 pt) Group 2$ (9 pt) |
Both groups cast for 2 weeks (Group 1, hinged brace for another 4 weeks), extension limited to 40°, full extension in 6 weeks |
| (4) Peeters, 2009 [21] | 23 | 17/2#/4% | 17 | 50 (39–58) | 16.8 (6–48) | SA | Immediate full ROM | |
| (5) Dillon, 2010 [26] | 27 | 17/9#/1@ | 17 | 50.1 (41–62) | 30.9 (15–50) | SA | Cast for 2 weeks and then active ROM, in 4 weeks' ADL, no lifting > 5 lbs | |
| (6) Gupta, 2012 [27] | 8/9 | 9 | 8 | 27.4 (21–42) | 41.5 (24–60) | SA | Removable splint for 2 weeks with active ROM, ADL, and no heavy lifting for 6 weeks | |
| (7) Banerjee, 2013 [23] | 27 | 27 | 27 | 47.9 (34–63) | 36.1 (NR) | SA | Group 1! (19 pt) Group 2& (9 pt) |
Cast for 6 weeks, passive ROM started after 3rd week |
|
| ||||||||
| Total | 126/127 | 106/16/4/1 | 105 | 43.6 | 26.3 | |||
#More than 6 weeks after injury; %partial repairs; @revision repairs; SA: single anterior approach; NR: not reported; ROM: range of motion; ADL: activities of daily living; Group 1∗: supervised physiotherapy; Group 2$: no therapy; Group 1!: without complications; Group 2&: with complications; studies in Group B are highlighted with bold.