Symbrachydactyly and Sports Participation

While sports have demonstrated psychosocial and physical health benefits in children, there is little specific research regarding children with symbrachydactyly or congenital hand differences. The aim of this study is to assess sports participation, incidence of injury, and perceived abilities among children with symbrachydactyly, partial, or complete absence of a hand.

In this single-center, cross-sectional survey study, patients between the ages of 6 and 18 years with a symbrachydactyly diagnosis were recruited at a pediatric tertiary hospital to complete a survey including questions regarding sport participation, injuries, and perceived inclusivity. In addition, participants completed the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Upper Extremity and Peer Relationships surveys and ABILHAND. These reported surveys and scores were compared with published norms for children in this age group.

Thirty-five participants (19 male and 16 female) with an average age of 11.4 years completed the study. Twenty-seven participants (77.1%) had one or more functioning digits on the affected arm, while 8 (22.9%) reported having no hand at the wrist or higher. All participants (100%) reported playing a sport at some point with 30 (85.7%) reporting that they still play this sport. The most reported sport was soccer with 10 participants (29.4%) answering that they play this sport predominantly. Twenty-eight participants (80.0%) answered "no" when asked if their disability limits participation in their sport. Twelve participants (34.3%) reported that they had sustained one or more injuries while playing their sport. Level of deficiency was not associated with sports participation; however, it was significantly associated with injury ( P =0.03). Lastly, the median scores for the PROMIS Upper Extremity and PROMIS Peer Relationships were 35 and 67, respectively. The median score for the ABILHAND-Kids was 38.

All participants with symbrachydactyly participated in sports and most did not report that their disability limited their participation. The incidence of sports-related injury in these patients was similar to the incidence in the general pediatric population. Future directions would include collecting psychosocial outcome measures as well as increasing the sample size and geographic locations of the study.

Level III-cross-sectional observational study.