Functional Brace Feasible for Ruptured Achilles Tendon

Outcomes at nine months after injury did not differ for functional brace compared with plaster cast
bandaged ankle
bandaged ankle

MONDAY, Feb. 10, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Traditional plaster casting is not superior to a functional brace in patients being treated nonoperatively for Achilles tendon rupture, according to a study published in the Feb. 8 issue of The Lancet.

Matthew L. Costa, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues randomly assigned (1:1) U.K. patients (aged ≥16 years) who were being treated non-operatively for a primary Achilles tendon rupture at 39 hospitals to receive either a plaster cast (266 patients) or functional brace (274 patients) for eight weeks. The authors evaluated outcomes at nine months.

The researchers observed no difference in patient-reported Achilles tendon rupture score at nine months post injury (adjusted mean difference, −1.38; 95 percent confidence interval, −4.9 to 2.1; P = 0.44). Additionally, there was no difference noted in the rate of re-rupture of the tendon (6 percent in the plaster cast group and 5 percent in the functional brace group; P = 0.40). The mean total health and personal social care costs were £1,181 and £1,078 for the plaster cast group and the functional brace group, respectively (mean between-group difference, −£103; 95 percent confidence interval, −289 to 84).

"Clinicians may consider the use of early weight-bearing in a functional brace as a safe and cost-effective alternative to plaster casting," the authors write.

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