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Posttraumatic stiff elbow

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Indian Journal of Orthopaedics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Posttraumatic stiff elbow is a frequent and disabling complication and poses serious challenges for its management. In this review forty studies were included to know about the magnitude of the problem, causes, pathology, prevention, and treatment of posttraumatic stiff elbow. These studies show that simple measures such as internal fxation, immobilization in extension, and early motion of elbow joint are the most important steps that can prevent elbow stiffness. It also supports conservative treatment in selected cases. There are no clear guidelines about the choice between the numerous procedures described in literature. However, this review article disproves two major beliefs-heterotopic ossifcation is a bad prognostic feature, and passive mobilization of elbow causes elbow stiffness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansan Nagar, -110 029, New Delhi, India

    Ravi Mittal

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  1. Ravi Mittal
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Correspondence to Ravi Mittal.

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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

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Mittal, R. Posttraumatic stiff elbow. IJOO 51, 4–13 (2017). https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5413.197514

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5413.197514

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