gms | German Medical Science

14th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT)

17.06. - 21.06.2019, Berlin

Article

Send article

Validity and responsiveness of strength measurements in the assessment of Distal radioulnar joint arthroplasty

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • presenting/speaker Peter Axelsson - Dept. of Hand Surgery, Institute of clinical sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
  • Johan Kärrholm - Dept. of Orthopaedics, Institute of clinical sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden

International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand. International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy. 14th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT). Berlin, 17.-21.06.2019. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2020. DocIFSSH19-594

doi: 10.3205/19ifssh0921, urn:nbn:de:0183-19ifssh09212

Published: February 6, 2020

© 2020 Axelsson et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Objectives/Interrogation: To assess responsiveness of lifting strength, forearm torque and grip strength in the evaluation of distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) implant arthroplasty

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 18 patients treated with Herbert (n = 12) and Scheker (n = 6) DRUJ implants. Patients, whose arm and grip strength had been assessed both preoperatively and after a minimum follow-up of one year, were included. Observed changes of strength measurements were correlated to changes of patient reported outcome measures such as Disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH), Patient reported wrist evaluation (PRWE) and Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) for pain and satisfaction. Measurements for grip strength, forearm torque and lifting strength were performed with the Jamar dynamometer and our recently presented test methods including the Kern- and Baseline instruments. Preoperative values were compared with one-year values. Statistical analyses included Spearman's correlation to explore relationships between variables. Standardized response mean and effect size were used to analyze responsiveness.

Results and Conclusions: Forearm torque was more sensitive to change of clinical outcomes after DRUJ arthroplasty than grip strength, which did not significantly correlate to other strength recordings or any outcome measures. Change in forearm torque and lifting strength had a moderate to strong correlation to change in PRWE and Pain experienced during activity. There were no significant correlations between change in any strength test and change in DASH.

Our findings suggest that the most relevant measures for the assessment of DRUJ arthroplasty are Forearm torque, PRWE and VAS for pain with activity.