Profile and management of patients from low-middle socioeconomic status with thoracic trauma.
Heleen van Aswegen, Ronel Roos, Elizma Haarhoff and 5 others
PMID 40612924WHAT IT FOUND
Most patients with thoracic trauma in these South African hospitals were young men injured by assault.
Physiotherapists used breathing exercises and early walking, but rarely trunk exercises. Only two patients were referred for outpatient follow-up. This describes current practice, not whether it works.
Key findings
01The main mechanism of injury was assault, resulting mostly in penetrating thoracic trauma with unilateral haemopneumothorax.
02Physiotherapists frequently used deep breathing, active cycle of breathing technique, positive expiratory pressure, active coughing, and mobilisation away from the bedside, but seldom used trunk range of motion exercises or muscle strength training.
03Only two participants were given a follow-up appointment for physiotherapy at the hospital outpatient department after discharge.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This is an observational study, so it describes what happened but cannot prove that the physiotherapy interventions caused the observed recovery or lack of complications. Data was only reliably captured for the first three days of hospitalisation; management beyond that point had too much missing data to report. Physiotherapy interventions were self-reported by clinicians, which may introduce bias. The study was conducted at two public hospitals in one province during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may limit how well the findings apply to other settings. Injury severity was not formally assessed, making it difficult to judge how representative the cohort is of all thoracic trauma patients.
Declared interests
The research was supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Number: 141963). No other conflicts of interest were reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the low complication rates and improving pain scores as proof that the specific physiotherapy interventions used were effective. This study had no control group, so these outcomes may have occurred regardless of the treatment provided.