A comparison between two burn rehabilitation protocols

Introduction Injury from burns is very common and must be treated with considerable care by the rehabilitation team to prevent contractures that may occur. Physiotherapy is vital in rehabilitation of burn-injured patients. Purpose The aim of this study is to compare a burn rehabilitation treatment (BRT) protocol with a routine burn rehabilitation treatment to find out rehabilitation related problems. Methods For all burn-injured patients admitted to a general hospital in Tehran on 2005, a group match clinical trial was done and then randomly divided into two groups. For the first group, ordinary physiotherapy was done according to the routine prescription and the BRT protocol has been carried out for the second group. At the time of patient registration, a questionnaire was completed which consisted of gender, age, TBS, depth and cause of injury. On the other hand, post burn contractures, thrombosis and duration of staying in hospital was measured at discharge. Results There was not any significant difference (p > 0.05) in gender, age, TBS, cause and depth of injury between two groups. In addition, there was not any significant difference (p > 0.05) between thrombosis and duration of staying patients in hospital. However, these results show significant difference (p < 0.01) in burn contractures between two groups. In the BRT group, 6% had burn contractures, with 73% routine rehabilitation treatment. Conclusion The result of this study indicates that intensive rehabilitation decreased burn complications. Burn rehabilitation teams could consider the BRT protocol.