Children and adolescents come to the Department of Rehabilitation and the clinics at ALYN following trauma to the elbow, the majority as a result of a fall. Before being admitted to ALYN, they have undergone surgery to the elbow, and it has been placed in a cast. After removal of the plaster cast, there are limitations to the range of motion at the elbow in regard to bending and straightening. They receive occupational therapy and physiotherapy in the community in order to strengthen and improve the range of motion. Occasionally, after a number of weeks and months of treatment in the community, there are still limitations to the range of motion at the elbow.
In these cases, the patients come for rehabilitation at ALYN in order to receive intensive therapy, including occupational therapy, physiotherapy and hydrotherapy. The patients that come to ALYN are following a fracture to the elbow with limitation of the range of motion at the elbow, requiring stretching, maximal straightening and maximal bending of the joint for extended periods of time. The best recommendation in these cases is to fit a dynamic splint to the elbow that can be fixed for straightening or bending depending on the recommendation for the patient. Furthermore, the degree of the range can be altered according to new changes in bending or straightening. The splint that has been recommended by orthopedic specialists is a JAS-type splint marketed in the USA and not in Israel. It is a dynamic splint that can be easily and quickly adapted to the existing and changing ranges of motion in the patient’s elbow joint.
At ALYN, for patients with a limitation regarding range of motion in the elbow, we loan out this kind of dynamic splint so that it can be used throughout the entire day. Use of the splint enables more range of motion either for bending or straightening according to the recommendation of the treating occupational therapist, to enable more significant intensive work and a greater extent of improvement to the range of motion.