Compensation exercise in patients with occupational lesion of ulnar nerve in the elbow region

Czech version

Authors: Máslová Veronika ¹; Nakládalová Marie ²; Marečková Jana ¹
Authors‘ workplace: Fakulta zdravotnických věd UP v Olomouci, doktorský studijní program Ošetřovatelství, předseda oborové rady doc. PhDr. Jana Marečková, Ph. D. ¹; Klinika pracovního lékařství Lékařské fakulty Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci, přednostka doc. MUDr. Marie Nakládalová, Ph. D. ²
Published in: Pracov. Lék., 65, 2013, No. 1-2, s. 19-24.
Category: Original Papers

*Sdělení vychází z diplomové práce studentky navazujícího magisterského programu fyzioterapie FZV UP v Olomouci.

Overview

Introduction:
Ulnar nerve lesion in the elbow region is the second most frequent occupational damage of peripheral nerves and all possibilities of therapy and prevention of the damage are therefore important.

Objective:
The paper presents various kinds of compensation exercise suitable for patients with ulnar nerve lesion in the elbow region and verifies their efficiency.

Group and methods:
The group encompassed 15 persons, who had been acknowledged to suffer from ulnar nerve lesion in the elbow region, which became manifest in the observed group in 22 extremities. There were 9 men and 6 women in the group at the age of 33 to 64 years. Their mean age was 49.6 years (S.D. 10.8) and they suffered from long-term complaints for the period of three to 15 years, 8.1 years on the average (S.D. 3.6). Patients who gave consent to participate in the research, filled out, with the help of a physiotherapist, an anamnesis questionnaire which was oriented to incidence of complaints, their intensity and duration. They were explained five simple kinds of exercise to be performed twice daily for the period of three months. Following this time period of self-reliant exercise the patients were again asked to report the incidence and severity of the symptoms and paresthesia, nocturnal pains, decreased sense of touch, feelings of cold extremities and decrease muscular strength were evaluated,

Results:
The patients reported 86 symptoms on the affected extremities before the exercise, while diminution of the symptoms occurred after the exercise. The improvement concerned all modalities, but the most significant improvement was reach with nocturnal pains and paresthesia.

Conclusion:
The authors are of the opinion that compensation exercise is a suitable component of conservative treatment as well as an obliged component on prevention in persons, who work at the risk of origination of this kind of damage. Education of the clients should be entrusted to physiotherapists, ergotherapists, but it could be also performed by general nurses working at the occupational medicine wards at institutions providing occupational medical services.

Keywords:
occupational disease – ulnar nerve lesions in the elbow region – neurodynamic nerve mobilization – compensation exercise

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