Short-term Effects of Manual Therapy in Patients After Surgical Fixation of Ankle and/or Hindfoot Fracture: A...

Patients with surgical fixation of ankle and/or hindfoot fractures often experience decreased range of motion and loss of function following surgery and postsurgical immobilization, yet there is minimal evidence to guide care for these patients.

To assess whether manual therapy may provide short-term improvements in range of motion, muscle stiffness, gait, and balance in patients who undergo operative fixation of an ankle and/or hindfoot fracture.

In this multisite, double-blind randomized clinical trial, 72 consecutive patients who underwent open reduction internal fixation of an ankle and/or hindfoot fracture and were receiving physical therapy treatment of exercise and gait training were randomized to receive either impairment-based manual therapy (manual therapy group) or a sham manual therapy treatment of light soft tissue mobilization and proximal tibiofibular joint mobilizations (control group). Participants in both groups received 3 treatment sessions over 7 to 10 days, and outcomes were assessed immediately post intervention. Outcomes included ankle joint range of motion, muscle stiffness, gait characteristics, and balance measures. Group-by-time effects were compared using linear mixed modeling.

There were no significant differences between the manual therapy and control groups for range of motion, gait, or balance outcomes. There was a significant difference from baseline to the final follow-up in resting gastrocnemius muscle stiffness between the manual therapy and control groups (-47.9 N/m; 95% confidence interval: -86.1, -9.8; P = .01). There was no change in muscle stiffness for the manual therapy group between baseline and final follow-up, whereas muscle stiffness increased in the control group by 6.4%.

A brief course of manual therapy consisting of 3 treatment sessions over 7 to 10 days did not lead to better short-term improvement than the application of sham manual therapy for most clinical outcomes in patients after ankle and/or hindfoot fracture who were already being treated with exercise and gait training. Our results, however, suggest that manual therapy might decrease aberrant resting muscle stiffness after ankle and/or hindfoot surgical fixation.

Therapy, level 2. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2019;49(5):310-319. Epub 13 Feb 2019. doi:10.2519/jospt.2019.8864.