Burn Rehabilitation

Abstract

Burn injuries are important in terms of causing serious disability and threatening life. With the establishment of modern burn treatment units and advances in acute care management contributed to a reduced mortality rate over the last decades. As a result of improved outcome, more attention has to be given to a comprehensive burn rehabilitation program. Burn rehabilitation is a process that starts from day of admission and continues for months or sometimes years after the initial event. The term ‘burn rehabilitation’ incorporates the physical, physiological and social aspects of care. Burns can leave a patient with severely debilitating and deforming contractures, which can lead to significant disability when left untreated. Burn rehabilitation aims to prevent the possible complications, minimalize joint contractures and deformities, increase range of motion, control hypertrophic scarring, achieve the best possible functional capacity and to regain the patients vocational and recreational activities. (Journal of the Turkish Society Intensive Care 2011; 9 Suppl: 70-7)

Keywords

• Burns
• contracture
• cicatrix
• splintage
• rehabilitation