Efficacy of continuous passive motion (CPM) devices with hand burns

Ten patients with bilateral (deep second-degree and/or third-degree) hand burns requiring excision and grafting were included in a prospective randomized study to evaluate the efficacy of continuous passive motion (CPM) with burned hands. The purpose of the study was to evaluate: 1) if CPM is a useful alternative to supervised OT/PT for burned hands; 2) which patient populations benefit from CPM intervention; 3) if CPM use has deleterious effects on new grafts; and 4) what effect CPM has on hand pain. Eight hands in the control group and eight hands in the experimental group regained normal total active motion (TAMs) in an average of nine days (range three to 22 days). Two hands with tendon involvement in each group remained impaired at discharge. No patients suffered graft loss attributable to range of motion. Both groups reported only minimal pain during exercise.