The Open Orthopaedics Journal




ISSN: 1874-3250 ― Volume 14, 2020

Return-to-Work Following Open Reduction and Internal Fixation of Proximal Humerus Fractures



Michael Dietrich*, 1, Mathias Wasmer 2, Andreas Platz 2, Christian Spross 3
1 Department of Orthopaedics, University Hospital Balgrist, Zurich, Forchstrasse 340, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland
2 Department of Traumatology, City Hospital Triemli Zurich, Zurich, Birmensdorferstrasse 497, CH-8063 Zurich, Switzerland
3 Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, Rorschacherstr. 95, CH-9007 St. Gallen, Switzerland

Abstract

Objectives :

Shoulder disorders have an important impact on a patient’s capacity to work. We investigated whether there is a relationship between subjective or objective outcome measures and the ability and time for returning to work (RTW) after a proximal humerus fracture (PHF).

Design :

Retrospective single-centre study from March 2003 to June 2008.

Setting :

City hospital, trauma level one centre.

Intervention :

All PHF stabilized with a PHILOS®.

Main Outcome Measurements :

Routine follow-up examinations (X-ray, Constant-Murley Score (CMS), Short-Form 36 (SF-36)) were performed prospectively after 1.5, 3, 6 and 12 months or until RTW. Primary interest was the comparison of the outcome scores with the time needed for RTW.

Results :

72 patients (52 years (22-64), 37 (51%) women) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. We distinguished “office-workers” (OW) (n = 49, 68%) from patients who worked at a physically demanding job (PW) (n = 23, 32%). Although time for RTW was fundamentally different (42 (OW) vs 118 days (PW), p<0.001), CMS (64.7 vs 64.1) and SF-36 (66.8 vs 69.9) at time of RTW were almost identical. At follow-up, CMS and SF-36 were always lower in the PW group.

Conclusion :

Jobs which require higher physical demands were likely to influence and to delay RTW. This study identifies cut off values for CMS and SF-36 at which a patient feels capable or willing to RTW after PHF. These values show the importance and impact of a patient’s occupation or demands on RTW. We were able to show, that besides age, sex and fracture, the type of occupation might alter the scores in postoperative outcomes.

Keywords: CMS, fracture, proximal humerus, return to work, SF-36, workers compensation..

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2014
Volume: 8
First Page: 281
Last Page: 287
Publisher Id: TOORTHJ-8-281
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001408010281

Article History:

Received Date: 16/2/2014
Revision Received Date: 15/7/2014
Acceptance Date: 19/7/2014
Electronic publication date: 15 /9/2014
Collection year: 2014

© Dietrich et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Orthopaedics, University Hospital Balgrist, Zurich, Forchstrasse 340, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland; Tel: +41 44 386 57 66; Fax: +41 44 386 12 90; E-mail: micha.dietrich@me.com


Track Your Manuscript:


Endorsements



"Open access will revolutionize 21st century knowledge work and accelerate the diffusion of ideas and evidence that support just in time learning and the evolution of thinking in a number of disciplines."


Daniel Pesut
(Indiana University School of Nursing, USA)

"It is important that students and researchers from all over the world can have easy access to relevant, high-standard and timely scientific information. This is exactly what Open Access Journals provide and this is the reason why I support this endeavor."


Jacques Descotes
(Centre Antipoison-Centre de Pharmacovigilance, France)

"Publishing research articles is the key for future scientific progress. Open Access publishing is therefore of utmost importance for wider dissemination of information, and will help serving the best interest of the scientific community."


Patrice Talaga
(UCB S.A., Belgium)

"Open access journals are a novel concept in the medical literature. They offer accessible information to a wide variety of individuals, including physicians, medical students, clinical investigators, and the general public. They are an outstanding source of medical and scientific information."


Jeffrey M. Weinberg
(St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, USA)

"Open access journals are extremely useful for graduate students, investigators and all other interested persons to read important scientific articles and subscribe scientific journals. Indeed, the research articles span a wide range of area and of high quality. This is specially a must for researchers belonging to institutions with limited library facility and funding to subscribe scientific journals."


Debomoy K. Lahiri
(Indiana University School of Medicine, USA)

"Open access journals represent a major break-through in publishing. They provide easy access to the latest research on a wide variety of issues. Relevant and timely articles are made available in a fraction of the time taken by more conventional publishers. Articles are of uniformly high quality and written by the world's leading authorities."


Robert Looney
(Naval Postgraduate School, USA)

"Open access journals have transformed the way scientific data is published and disseminated: particularly, whilst ensuring a high quality standard and transparency in the editorial process, they have increased the access to the scientific literature by those researchers that have limited library support or that are working on small budgets."


Richard Reithinger
(Westat, USA)

"Not only do open access journals greatly improve the access to high quality information for scientists in the developing world, it also provides extra exposure for our papers."


J. Ferwerda
(University of Oxford, UK)

"Open Access 'Chemistry' Journals allow the dissemination of knowledge at your finger tips without paying for the scientific content."


Sean L. Kitson
(Almac Sciences, Northern Ireland)

"In principle, all scientific journals should have open access, as should be science itself. Open access journals are very helpful for students, researchers and the general public including people from institutions which do not have library or cannot afford to subscribe scientific journals. The articles are high standard and cover a wide area."


Hubert Wolterbeek
(Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)

"The widest possible diffusion of information is critical for the advancement of science. In this perspective, open access journals are instrumental in fostering researches and achievements."


Alessandro Laviano
(Sapienza - University of Rome, Italy)

"Open access journals are very useful for all scientists as they can have quick information in the different fields of science."


Philippe Hernigou
(Paris University, France)

"There are many scientists who can not afford the rather expensive subscriptions to scientific journals. Open access journals offer a good alternative for free access to good quality scientific information."


Fidel Toldrá
(Instituto de Agroquimica y Tecnologia de Alimentos, Spain)

"Open access journals have become a fundamental tool for students, researchers, patients and the general public. Many people from institutions which do not have library or cannot afford to subscribe scientific journals benefit of them on a daily basis. The articles are among the best and cover most scientific areas."


M. Bendandi
(University Clinic of Navarre, Spain)

"These journals provide researchers with a platform for rapid, open access scientific communication. The articles are of high quality and broad scope."


Peter Chiba
(University of Vienna, Austria)

"Open access journals are probably one of the most important contributions to promote and diffuse science worldwide."


Jaime Sampaio
(University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal)

"Open access journals make up a new and rather revolutionary way to scientific publication. This option opens several quite interesting possibilities to disseminate openly and freely new knowledge and even to facilitate interpersonal communication among scientists."


Eduardo A. Castro
(INIFTA, Argentina)

"Open access journals are freely available online throughout the world, for you to read, download, copy, distribute, and use. The articles published in the open access journals are high quality and cover a wide range of fields."


Kenji Hashimoto
(Chiba University, Japan)

"Open Access journals offer an innovative and efficient way of publication for academics and professionals in a wide range of disciplines. The papers published are of high quality after rigorous peer review and they are Indexed in: major international databases. I read Open Access journals to keep abreast of the recent development in my field of study."


Daniel Shek
(Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

"It is a modern trend for publishers to establish open access journals. Researchers, faculty members, and students will be greatly benefited by the new journals of Bentham Science Publishers Ltd. in this category."


Jih Ru Hwu
(National Central University, Taiwan)

Browse Contents



Webmaster Contact: info@benthamopen.net
Copyright © 2020 Bentham Open