Contractures with special reference in elderly: definition and risk factors – a systematic review with practical implications

AbstractPurpose: Contractures are common problems for the elderly with far reaching functional and medical consequences. The aim of this systematic literature review was to give an overview of contracture and to identify potential risk factors associated with contractures. Methods: A systematic literature search with two objectives limited to the last 10 years was performed to identify studies dealing with definition of contracture (objective 1 = O1) and with risk factors (objective 2 = O2). Predefined information including age, sample size, study design, setting, condition, joint, definition of contracture, mode of measurement, and whether inter- and/or intra-rater reliability were assessed, as well as risk factors of contracture were extracted. Results: One hundred and sixty one and 25 studies were retrieved. After applying exclusion criteria 47 studies (O1) and 3 studies (O2) remained. Only 9 studies (O1) provided a definition of contracture. In 3 studies (O2) several potential risk factors were identi...