Vertebral compression fracture in patients of advanced age is disadvantage as it forces long term rest. Recently some surgical treatments have been reported. We have been treating vertebral compression fracture by body cast and good results have been achieved.
In this study, the subjects comprised of 44 females and 8 males with a mean age of 77.7 years (range: 58 to 92 years) treated by body cast within two weeks from injury.
We evaluated patient pain according to VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) and recorded days when patients could sit on a wheel chair, walker gait, and T-cane gait.
Results were as follows: (1) the average VAS when patients were admitted to our hospital was 7.5, three days later was 5.4, one week later was 4.6, two weeks later was 3.0 and when discharged was 1.2; (2) the average days the patients could sit on a wheel chair was 4.3 days, walker gait was 6.8 days, and T-cane gait was 12.2 days; (3) the average VAS of posterior wall damaged cases was higher than non-damaged cases; (4) the average days of admission of posterior wall damaged cases was longer than non-damaged cases.
