High Intensity Physiotherapy for Hip Fractures

NCT ID: NCT02088437

Last Updated: 2015-12-31

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 92 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2014-03-31
• Study Completion Date: 2015-09-30

Brief Summary

Every day, more than 40 Australian break their hip, Most are over the age of sixty five. Hip fractures are a significant problem for the older people, the hospital system and community as a whole because of the increasing numbers of fractures and the cost of hospitalisation and ongoing care. After one year, less than half of all people with a hip fracture can walk as well as they did before the fracture. Physiotherapy in the acute hospital setting is an integral part of patient care, although the intensity of physiotherapy a patient receives is variable and the optimal number of treatment sessions per day remains unknown. Studies in other patient groups have shown that increased physiotherapy can improve patient outcomes by increasing muscle strength and mobility. It can also reduce the negative effects of bed rest such as muscle wasting, blood clots in the lungs or leg veins and chest infections such as pneumonia. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of an intensive physiotherapy program in hip fracture patients to further understand this and the effect it has on patient function.

In this research the investigators will randomly allocate patients into 2 groups; usual care and intensive physiotherapy. The usual care group will have physiotherapy treatment daily whereas the intensive physiotherapy group will have an additional daily treatment by a physiotherapist as well as a daily treatment by an allied health assistant. The objectives are to achieve better functional outcomes in the patient's hospital stay (ie improved mobility), reduce the time for patients to be physically ready to go home, increase the number of patients able to go directly home or to fast stream rehabilitation (rather than a slow stream option).

If increased intensity of physiotherapy is found to improve patient's mobility outcomes, this research will provide the confidence to endorse a change to current clinical practice.

Conditions

Hip Fractures

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Usual care

usual care physiotherapy - once daily treatment whilst inpatient in acute hospital

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Usual Care

Intervention Type: OTHER

once daily physiotherapy whilst acute hospital inpatient

Intensive physiotherapy

additional once daily physiotherapy and once daily allied health assistant intervention

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Intensive physiotherapy

Intervention Type: OTHER

additional once daily physiotherapy and once daily allied health assistant intervention (equals two more treatments) whilst an inpatient in acute hospital

Interventions

Intensive physiotherapy

additional once daily physiotherapy and once daily allied health assistant intervention (equals two more treatments) whilst an inpatient in acute hospital

Intervention Type: OTHER

Usual Care

once daily physiotherapy whilst acute hospital inpatient

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Admission to The Alfred with an isolated hip fracture and treated with internal fixation, aged 65 or above

Exclusion Criteria

• fracture is in the sub-trochanteric region of the femur,
• if it is pathological,
• if post operative orders are for non-weight bearing on the operated hip,
• if they were unable to mobilise independently (or with gait aid) prior to admission,
• or if they were admitted from a nursing home.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

The Alfred

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Lara Kimmel

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Lara A Kimmel, B.Physio

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

The Alfred

Locations

The Alfred

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Countries

Australia

References

Kimmel LA, Liew SM, Sayer JM, Holland AE. HIP4Hips (High Intensity Physiotherapy for Hip fractures in the acute hospital setting): a randomised controlled trial. Med J Aust. 2016 Jul 18;205(2):73-8. doi: 10.5694/mja16.00091.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 27456448 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

32/14

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id