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Postoperative Effects of Somatosensory Foot Training on Balance and Walking Ability in Proximal Femoral Fractures: A
Tomoki Hakamata1, Junichi Suganuma2, Kazuhiro Chidori2
1Department of Rehabilitation, Kasai Central Hospital, Japan.
Objectives:
By using a single-case design, we aimed to assess the impact of postoperative somatosensory foot training on walking balance and speed compared with conventional physical therapy interventions in 3 patients with proximal femoral fractures.
Methods:
This study included 3 patients in their 70s who sustained left proximal femoral fractures due to falls and underwent open reduction and internal fixation or hemiarthroplasty. An AB-type single-case design was employed, with phase A consisting of conventional physical therapy interventions and phase B involving additional somatosensory training. Each phase lasted for 6 days. The outcome measures included the Timed Up-and-Go (TUG) test and 10-m maximum walking speed. To determine interventional effects, effect sizes were calculated using the percentage of nonoverlapping data (PND) and the Tau-U coefficient.
Results:
Our PND analysis indicated a large effect size for the TUG and 10-m maximum walking speed outcome measures in all cases. Additionally, the Tau-U analysis showed that all patients exhibited significantly shorter TUG times and higher 10-m maximum walking speeds in phase B compared with phase A (p <0.05).
Conclusions:
Postoperative somatosensory foot training may be effective in improving walking balance and speed in patients with proximal femoral fractures.
