Preoperative pillow placement under the injured extremity had better analgesic effects than skin traction for hip fracture
QUESTION: What is the comparative analgesic effectiveness of preoperative placement of a pillow under the injured extremity and skin traction in patients with hip fracture?
Design
Randomised (unclear allocation concealment), unblinded trial with follow up at 15 minutes and 1 day after the intervention.
Setting
A university medical centre in New York, USA.
Patients
100 patients aged ≥50 years (mean age 78 y, 78% women) with an isolated femoral neck fracture (n=55) or intertrochanteric hip fracture (n=45). Exclusion criteria included dementia, concomitant injury, delayed hospital presentation (>24 h after initial injury), or inadequate cognitive function. 96% of patients had follow up on the morning after the intervention.
Intervention
Preoperatively, patients were allocated to have a pillow placed under the ipsilateral thigh of the injured hip in the resting position of the extremity …
