Graded Motor Imagery for Women at Risk for Developing Type I CRPS Following Closed Treatment of Distal Radius Fractures: A Pilot Randomized Comparative Effectiveness Trial

Distal radius fractures (DRF) account for nearly one-fifth of all fractures in older adults with women sustaining them at a rate of 5 to 1 relative to their male counterparts. The majority of DRF occur as a result of low impact injuries to the wrist with the hand being outstretched and are most often managed via closed treatment and cast immobilization The aftereffects of these injuries include pain, distal upper limb immobility, distal sensorimotor changes, hand weakness, edema, and type I complex CRPS development. Women, those sustaining low-force injuries, and those who undergo closed treatment and cast immobilization of the DRF, are at increased risk for developing type I CRPS. Given that alterations in the brain's somatosensory strip likely influence CRPS development, a newer intervention, graded motor imagery, is being used to restore the affected limbs cortical representation to its typical state. Beyond pain reduction, the implications of this type of approach also include restoring sensorimotor function to the affected limb. Evidence supports that these interventions can impact CRPS symptoms as well as motor function but only after they've developed. To date, there is no literature exploring how these techniques, specifically graded motor imagery, can be applied to prevent or mitigate the aforementioned aftereffects of DRF in women.

To this end the investigators propose to pilot a 6-week randomized comparative effectiveness trial, where the modified graded motor imagery program + standard of care group is compared to a standard of care (SOC) control group. Immediately following cast immobilization, the intervention group and control group will each participate in one 1-hr and three 30-minute clinic-based sessions and 15 minute home programs three times daily. Blinded assessments will occur at baseline, 3 weeks, cast removal, and one and 3 months after cast removal and will include pain, sensorimotor, edema, and CRPS diagnostic outcomes.

The project's aims are to: 1) determine the feasibility of recruiting, enrolling, treating, and following participants and 2) determine if those who participate in a GMI and SOC hand therapy program have differing pain, function, and counts of CRPS diagnoses when compared to those who receive only the SOC. The investigators hypothesize 1) that the project will be feasible to carry out on a larger scale and 2) that an early GMI will improve the pain, functional and upper limb sensorimotor outcomes of persons with closed treatment of DRF relative to a standard of care intervention.