Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation
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Arch Phys Med Rehabil · Feb 2011
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudySingle blind, prospective, randomized controlled trial comparing dorsal aluminum and custom thermoplastic splints to stack splint for acute mallet finger.
To compare Stack, dorsal, and custom splinting techniques in people with acute type 1a or b mallet finger. ⋯ As splints for mallet finger must be worn continuously for 6 to 8 weeks, and compliance correlates with favorable outcomes, treating practitioners must ensure the splint provided is robust enough for daily living requirements and does not cause complications, which are intolerable to the patient. In this study, no extensor lag difference was found between the 3 splint types, but custom-made thermoplastic splints were significantly less likely to result in treatment failure.