title: Variations in Postoperative Immobilization Following Common Hand Surgery Procedures.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim was to investigate variations in the duration of postoperative immobilization for common hand surgery procedures and to determine whether there is any correlation between surgeon experience and duration of postoperative immobilization.
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous cross-sectional survey was sent to the American Society for Surgery of the Hand asking the following questions: (1) number of years in practice and (2) duration of immobilization for 16 common hand surgery procedures. A Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine correlations between surgeon experience and duration of immobilization. Box plots were created to display the distribution and variability in postoperative immobilization per procedure among surgeons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1126 respondents completed the survey, yielding a response rate of 40%. Procedures with a greater average duration of immobilization demonstrated the greatest variability. The largest variability overall was observed in intercarpal ligament repair with the majority of responses distributed between 4 and 10 weeks of immobilization. The smallest variability was observed following De Quervain's release and Dupuytren's fasciectomy. Only small correlations between surgeon experience and duration of immobilization were observed. Specifically, all Pearson correlation coefficients were less than .20.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study supports the hypothesis that large variations exist in the duration of immobilization following common hand surgery procedures. Only small correlations were found between surgeon experience and average duration of immobilization. The study suggests that there is a lack of evidence to guide postoperative immobilization for common hand surgery procedures and that prolonged immobilization may not be necessary for certain hand procedures.
authors.affiliation: Stanford University Medical Center, Redwood City, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedic Research Center, Orthopaedic Institute for Children in Alliance with UCLA Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ebramzadeh
authors.affiliation: Stanford University Medical Center, Redwood City, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao
keywords: hand surgery; immobilization