Physical therapy needs after earthquakes
Citation: Li H, Nyland J, Kuban K, et al. Physical therapy needs for patients with physical function injuries post-earthquake disasters: A systematic review of Chinese and Western literature. Physiotherapy Research International. 2018;23(3):e1714.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: No.
Funding sources: Nothing noted.
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for studies about the physical therapy needs of patients with earthquake-related injuries. They restricted their searches to peer-reviewed articles. The authors searched in July 2017 and found 67 peer-reviewed studies from 10 countries, 37 of which were from China.
What was found: The most common injuries that physical therapists treated were general or non-specific injuries of multiple body regions. The second most common group were injuries to upper extremities, lower extremities, and spinal or pelvic fractures.
Implications: The authors of the review suggested that physical therapists should be trained to assist with the early emergency response to earthquakes and to provide comprehensive patient care and rehabilitation services. The authors of the review stated that rehabilitation planners must consider the physical therapy needs of patients after an earthquake, and place more emphasis on the care of survivors, development of infrastructure, and acquisition of resources.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of country of residence, but did not discuss other issues related to health equity.
This summary was prepared by Briann Mensour, checked by Jawaria Karim, and finalized by William Summerskill.