Early exercise following blunt chest trauma: ELECT2 Trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
EarLy Exercise in blunt Chest wall Trauma: a mixed methods, multi-centre, randomised controlled trial: ELECT2 Trial
IRAS ID
304751
Contact name
Ceri Battle
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Swansea Bay University Health Board
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN65829737
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 0 days
Research summary
Injuries to the chest lead to a large number of admission to hospital every year in the UK and globally. It is now well-known, that at least two thirds of patients with injuries to their chest, will go on to develop chronic pain and disability. Chronic pain is pain that lasts longer than three months after the original injury. Very little is yet known about how to reduce the risk of this chronic pain and disability, including the effectiveness of physiotherapy. The overall aim of this trial is to look at the impact of an early exercise programme, which includes simple upper back / chest and shoulder girdle movements, on the number of people experiencing chronic pain and physical disability, and the severity of the pain. If the programme is shown to work, it may lead to a reduction in both the number of people who develop chronic pain and disability, and the severity of the pain where it does develop.
The trial will run in five hospitals in Wales and England, where all adult patients who can complete the exercise programme, presenting to the Emergency Department with an injury to their chest, will be invited to participate. The exercise programme consists of four simple exercises, which will be completed three times a day, for one week in total. Half of the patients taking part will complete the exercise programme and the other half will not. All patients will receive normal routine physiotherapy care and will be asked to complete questionnaires when they first come to hospital, and again at three months after their injury. The whole trial will take 2 years to complete, with patients being invited to participate over a one year period.
Lay summary of study results: •71% patients told us how much of the exercise programme they had completed. Only 23% of these patients completed the entire programme.
•By three months, the levels of chronic pain and poor quality of life reported by patients was very low. This suggest that most patients made a full recovery.
•We found that for some patients, the exercise programme may not have helped their recovery. Chronic pain was reported by 28.3% of those patients completing the exercise programme, and 16.9% of those not completing it.
•The exercise programme was safe. There were no reported differences in the rate of problems (related to the trial) between the two groups.
•Patients felt the exercise programme was helpful and easy to follow, although was possibly started too early after their injury.
•The physiotherapists reported that the programme was straightforward. They also felt that for some patients, it was started too early after their injury.
•The exercise programme is not cost-effective for patients with blunt chest wall trauma.REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/LO/0782
Date of REC Opinion
1 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion