Abstract
We undertook a trial with 60 patients who had undergone operative reduction and internal
fixation of bimalleolar, AO type B2 ankle fractures with comminution. Patients were
randomized into 2 groups, one of which received postoperative treatment using a noninvasive
interactive neurostimulation device (InterX®) and the other with a sham device. The trial was designed to test the hypothesis
that incorporation of noninvasive interactive neurostimulation into the rehabilitation
protocol would result in reduced pain, increased range of motion, reduced edema, and
reduced consumption of pain medication, in comparison with the sham therapy group.
Outcome measurements included the patient's subjective assessment of level of pain,
range of motion, and the extent of edema in the involved ankle, and the use of ketorolac
for postoperative control of pain. The results showed significantly better results
in the patients receiving treatment with active neurostimulation (repeated measures
analysis of variance, P < .001).
Level of Clinical Evidence
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 06, 2010
Footnotes
Financial Disclosure:Neuro Resource Group Inc. provided a research grant which partially funded this investigation.
Conflict of Interest: Dr Gorodetskyi is a paid consultant for Neuro Resource Group. The remaining authors report no real or potential conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
