Passive Movements Do not Appear to Prevent or Reduce Joint Stiffness in Medium to Long-Stay ICU Patients: A Randomized, Controlled, Within-Participant Trial.

Objectives: ICU patients have an increased risk of joint stiffness because of their critical illness and reduced mobility. There is a paucity of evidence evaluating the efficacy of passive movements (PMs). We investigated whether PMs prevent or reduce joint stiffness in ICU patients.

Orthopedic inpatients’ ability to accurately reproduce partial weight bearing orders.

Partial weight bearing is often prescribed for patients with orthopedic injuries. Patients’ ability to accurately reproduce partial weight bearing orders is variable, and its impact on clinical outcomes is unknown. This observational study measured patients’ ability to reproduce partial weight bearing orders, factors influencing this, patients’ and physiotherapists’ ability to gauge partial weight bearing accuracy, and the effect of partial weight bearing accuracy on long-term clinical outcomes.

A physiotherapy service to an emergency extended care unit does not decrease admission rates to hospital: a randomised trial.

Background: One of the reasons physiotherapy services are provided to emergency departments (EDs) and emergency extended care units (EECUs) is to review patients' mobility to ensure they are safe to be discharged home.

Aim: To investigate whether a physiotherapy service to an EECU altered the rate of hospital admission, rate of re-presentation to the ED, visits to community healthcare practitioners, return to usual work/home/leisure activities and patient satisfaction.

Methods: A randomised trial with concealed allocation, assessor blinding and intention-to-treat analysis was undertaken in an EECU.

Are bed exercises necessary following hip arthroplasty?

This study investigated whether a program of bed exercises increased the effectiveness of a mobility regimen during the acute period of hospitalisation, for patients who had undergone primary hip arthroplasty. Forty-two patients were randomly allocated, using a concealed allocation procedure, to one of two groups. Patients in the control group were mobilised according to a standard post-operative protocol.