A case of coronavirus after surgery for tendon reconstruction of the extensor pollicis longus who underwent remote rehabilitation and a team approach with a nurse

Abstract

For patients who were unable to continue inpatient individual rehabilitation due to contracting a new coronavirus infection after extensor pollicis longus tendon reconstruction, we implemented 20 days of telerehabilitation and a team approach with nurses as an alternative method. As a result, we were able to prevent re-rupture and adhesion of the extensor pollicis longus tendon reconstruction site, and maintain the thumb function (automatic extension angle of the thumb phalangeal joint at 24°). At the final evaluation, the automatic extension angle of the thumb-phalangeal joint was 20°, and the hand improved 15 items of activities of daily living. Based on the above, we believe that telerehabilitation and a team approach with nurses, which were implemented as an alternative to the usual inpatient individual rehabilitation after extensor pollicis longus tendon reconstruction, contributed to the improvement of thumb function and subjective evaluation.