Comparison of positive pressure gloves on hand function in adults with burns.

Overview

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of a standard, custom-made pressure glove vs The NewYork-Presbyterian Dexterity Glove (NYPDG) with silon application on the palmer surface on functional hand use of burn survivors. A standard, custom-made pressure glove and NYPDG were given to 18 participants in a randomized order. Subjects wore each glove for 7 to 10 days during all activities of daily living (ADL). Variables such as hand function, difficulty of fine and gross motor ADL, and participant glove preference were assessed with each glove condition. Data collection of the second glove took place 7 to 10 days later incorporating a quasiexperimental, repeated measure design. A crossover design was used to analyze the data. The NYPDG demonstrated significantly better results in all of the four outcome categories measured: time to complete the Jebsen, the Jebsen Likert scale, fine motor ADL, and gross motor ADL. This study demonstrated that functional tasks took less time to complete and were more easily performed when using the NYPDG.