HIP FRACTURES IN ELDERLY PEOPLE. UASIEXPERIMENTAL PROSPECTIVE STUDY

Abstract

 Objectives: to verify the effect of the physical therapy treatment in the patients with a hip fracture included on the present study, and to check if the effectiveness of the therapeutic treatment is due to factors leading to confusion. In this study these factors are the age and the sex. / To prove that the effectiveness of the therapeutic treatment is due to factors leading to confusion. Methods: a quasi-experimental study was designed, in which 14 patients (9 women and 5 men) with a mean age of 82.14 years (Standar Desviation, SD 4.074, range 74-89). They had hip fracture, and they were treated in the mobile unit of physical therapy at the Distrito Sanitario de Jaen. Therefore, the in-clusion criteria were to have suffered from a hip fracture, to have an age ranging from 70 to 90 years, and to be trea-ted by this mobile unit of physical therapy in the period in which the research has been developed. Their progress was evaluated by means of the Barthel's index of the daily life basic activities. To find relations Student's t test were used or Or of Mann-Whitney as it was proceeding, as well as a linear multiple regression model. Results: according to the Barthel's index grading, 14.3 % of the patients present a serious dependence; 28.6 %, moderated and 57.1 %, mild. All of them show a final punctuation higher to the initial one, with a statistically meaningful average difference (p). Sex, age and the number of sessions did not influence on the final grading, being the most influential variable the initial condition(state) of the patient. Conclusions: the patients surgically treated after a hip fracture who later were treated by the physical therapy protocol designed by Cameron and Brotzman, progress favorably according to Barthel's index. The variables age and sex do not take part in the results.