ABSTRACT
Objectives : To review the efficiency of early physical therapy to achieve successful rehabilitation after elbow injuries in children. Setting : Tertiary medical institution; Department of Physical Therapy; University Clinical Center of Kosovo; rr. Spitalit pn. 10000 Prishtina; Kosovo. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the patients with elbow injuries; (ICD; Rev. 10; Elbow Fractures code) merely as a consequence of trauma; who had undergone rehabilitation program from June 2000 December 2001. Results: In this study 140 cases with elbow injuries are analyzed. The majority of the injured are with fracture 132 cases (94.29); whereas only 8 cases or 5.72 are with non displaced fracture or dislocation. Analysis based on the most frequent injury localization in the elbow region; among all fractures; supracondylar fracture is present with 78 cases or 56. The majority of cases; 49 or 35 have had injuries caused by fall from height; up to 6 cases or 4.3 injured in MVA. Timely initiation of rehabilitation program is influential factor in successful rehabilitation; where as correlation between time of initiation and rehabilitation success statistical significance;have demonstrated important very high correlation r = 0.75 p0.01.Conclusion: The children that did not have continuousrehabilitation program; due to huge interruptions during rehabilitation; have not achieved excellent success in rehabilitation. Early start of rehabilitation; since the arm is immobilized; can cause complete regaining of elbow functions; therefore any delay in the beginning of rehabilitation will leave consequences; from the mustminor ones up to disability