Effects of Resting Hand Splint in Early Stroke Patients

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To assess effectiveness of resting hand splints to prevent contracture, maintain functional position and minimize spasticity in early stroke patients. METHOD: Subjects were hemiplegic patients with stroke less than one month. Both splint and control groups participated in individual motor training and upper limb stretching exercise. The subjects of the splint group wore resting hand splints for maximum of 12 hours each night for 4 weeks. Measurements of edema by measuring circumference of the third phalanx, pain at hemiplegic upper extremity using visual analog scale, spasticity at the wrist graded by the modified Ashworth scale, passive range of motion at the wrist with goniometer, and functional hand use with the manual function test (MFT) were made. All measurements were taken during standard rehabilitation at the beginning and end of a 4-week treatment period. RESULTS: Before treatment, the circumferences of the splint and control groups were 6.7+/-0.5 cm and 6.7+/-0.8 cm, respectively. After 4 weeks, both were 6.8+/-0.6 cm and 6.8+/-0.8 cm, which showed no significant differences between the groups. The effects of splinting were statistically nonsignificant between control and splint groups for all measurements. CONCLUSION: An overnight splint-wearing regimen for early stroke patients may not produce clinically beneficial effects.