Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Sep 16, 2021; 9(26): 7786-7797
Published online Sep 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i26.7786
Secondary injuries caused by ill-suited rehabilitation treatments: Five case reports
Ling Zhou, Ya-Qin Zhou, Lei Yang, Si-Yuan Ma
Ling Zhou, Ya-Qin Zhou, Lei Yang, Si-Yuan Ma, Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, The Army Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
Author contributions: Ma SY contributed to the conception of the study; Zhou L performed the data analyses and wrote the manuscript; Zhou YQ helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; Yang L made tables and figures.
Supported by State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, No. SKLJYJF18; and First Affiliated Hospital, Army Medical University, No. SWH2019QNLC-04.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Si-Yuan Ma, MD, PhD, Attending Doctor, Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, The Army Medical University, No. 30 Gaotanyan Street, Chongqing 400038, China. tmmu_msy@126.com
Received: December 16, 2020
Peer-review started: December 16, 2020
First decision: May 5, 2021
Revised: May 31, 2021
Accepted: August 3, 2021
Article in press: August 3, 2021
Published online: September 16, 2021
Processing time: 262 Days and 22.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Increasing attention is being given to burn rehabilitation, and an increasing number of burn patients are undergoing rehabilitation. However, little attention has been given to secondary injuries caused by ill-suited rehabilitation practices. Patients, especially those in undeveloped countries, sustain injuries due to inadequate burn rehabilitation practices and the nonstandard implementation of rehabilitation treatments.

CASE SUMMARY

This study reports 5 cases of secondary injuries caused by ill-suited burn rehabilitation practices in our institute, including first web space contracture caused by a single orthosis treatment, finger deformity caused by improper compression therapy with a self-adhering bandage, developmental impairment of the affected limb caused by continuous improper compression therapy, and fracture caused by overly intensive rehabilitation exercise.

CONCLUSION

More attention should be given to burn rehabilitation to reduce the incidence of secondary injuries caused by ill-suited rehabilitation practices. Burn rehabilitation system should include specialized hospitals (burn rehabilitation centers), community hospitals, and family rehabilitation clinics. Precise instruments and equipment, accurate measurement methods, objective monitoring indicators and standardized guidelines and recommendations will help improve the quality of burn rehabilitation. Additionally, more attention should be given to burn rehabilitation in children.

Keywords: Ill-suited rehabilitation treatments; Injury; Burn rehabilitation system; Burn; Case report

Core Tip: Functional reconstruction and rehabilitation are dynamically developing processes. Burn rehabilitation treatment should encompass the whole process from the time of the injury to when the patient returns to society, and appropriate rehabilitation measures should be taken at different stages of burn treatment. Rehabilitation therapists should systematically study clinical knowledge related to burns and explore the timing and use of various rehabilitation treatment techniques with clinical treatment to improve their professional level of rehabilitation. Moreover, the establishment of a national burn rehabilitation society and other academic organizations to further promote the popularization, development, standardization and improvement of burn rehabilitation treatment is warranted.