Work-related hand injuries: case analyses in a Brazilian rehabilitation service.
OBJECTIVE
Professionals who work with rehabilitation of the hand usually assess performance components as their main outcome measures. Intervention is aimed at normalization of deficits of these components, with the expectation that the integrity of the structures and functions of the body will revert to improvements in the client's functional performance. The objectives of this study were to describe changes in patients who received rehabilitation in a Brazilian public hospital after having suffered hand injuries due to workplace accidents, and to examine the relations between performance components and levels of functioning.


METHODS
Observational cross-sectional study was used. A convenience sample was selected, including 42 patients assessed at service admission and at discharge. Assessed characteristics included grip strength, wrist and finger range of movement (ROM), sensitivity, and self-perceptions of functional performance (COPM). Statistical procedures included correlations between performance components and COPM scores and differences on selected variables at admission and discharge.


RESULTS
Significant improvements in all assessed functional components. COPM values increased more than 100% after intervention (effect size d = 1.996 for performance and d = 1.553 for satisfaction) demonstrating improvements in both domains. Low correlations between grip strength and COPM scores were found only at admission (r = 0.314; p = 0.045). When the relationship between gains in strength and COPM scores at discharge were examined, significant correlations were found with the performance (r = 0.324; p = 0.039) and satisfaction (r = 0.0326; p = 0.038) subscales.


CONCLUSIONS
Results of this study provide evidence for functional gains in clients treated in a rehabilitation service and supply information about the relation between specific components and functional performance.
Sampaio
Rosana Ferreira
RF
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Campus Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. rosana@dedalus.lcc.ufmg.br
Mancini
Marisa Cotta
MC
Silva
Fabiana Caetano Martins
FC
Figueiredo
Ieda Maria
IM
Vaz
Daniela Virgínia
DV
Alves
Gisele Beatriz de Oliveira
GB
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006230:Hand Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012046:Rehabilitation; D016896:Treatment Outcome