Medical Care Services in Orthopedic and Musculoskeletal Trauma Care

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 September 2025 | Viewed by 351

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Assessment and Rehabilitation of the Locomotor Apparatus, Department of Health Sciences, Center Araranguá, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Ararangua 88906-072, SC, Brazil
Interests: rehabilitation; clinical assessment; sports injuries; biomechanics; musculoskeletal disorders; physical rehabilitation; exercise science; sport biomechanics; sports science; injury prevention

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Assessment and Rehabilitation of the Locomotor System, Federal University of Santa Catarina (LARAL/UFSC), Araranguá 88905-120, SC, Brazil
Interests: musculoskeletal disorders; exercise science; physical therapy; rotator cuff; biomechanics; rehabilitation medicine; sports injuries; physical rehabilitation; trauma; trauma surgery

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Post-Graduate Program in Rehabilitation Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Araranguá 88905-120, SC, Brazil
Interests: motor systems assessment and rehabilitation

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Health Sciences, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-010, SP, Brazil
Interests: health sciences; plastic surgery; occupational therapy; physical therapy; mechanical therapy; low intensity laser therapy

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Health Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Araranguá 88905-120, SP, Brazil
Interests: sports injuries; sports medicine; gait; biomechanics; rehabilitation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of rehabilitation in trauma and orthopedics, outcome measures are frequently used to evaluate the characteristics of patients with musculoskeletal disorders in the context of hospital care and in clinical practice. These outcomes can provide important information for researchers who use these outcome measures, using clinical and/or pre-clinical research, as well as providing information in the literature for professionals for clinical practice.

In the literature, a strong heterogeneity of tools and procedures used for the benefit of patients with any musculoskeletal disorder can be observed. Thus, this Special Issue entitled "Medical Care Services in Orthopedic and Musculoskeletal Trauma Care" seeks to emphasize research that addresses the care of orthopedic patients and pre- and post-surgical care due to trauma, with this approach being through observational research and clinical trials.

This Special Issue will be an important path towards bringing high-quality studies to the area of orthopedics and traumatology.

Therefore, we are pleased to invite you to provide clinicians and researchers with studies that strengthen the evidence for an appropriate, literature-based approach to improving care for patients with musculoskeletal system impairment.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Areas of research in orthopedics and traumatology may include the following:

  • Systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
  • Psychometric studies that measure the psychometric characteristics of assessment instruments.
  • Clinical trials.
  • Cross-sectional and observational studies.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Alexandre Márcio Marcolino
Dr. Rafael Inácio Barbosa
Dr. Heloyse Uliam Kuriki
Dr. Laís Mara Siqueira Das Neves
Prof. Dr. Alessandro Haupenthal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • musculoskeletal
  • rehabilitation
  • orthopedics
  • traumatology
  • post-surgical treatment
  • electrophysical agents
  • clinical trials
  • observational studies
  • epidemiology

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 472 KiB  
Article
Healthcare Utilization Among United States Service Members with Combat-Related Lower Extremity Limb Salvage
by Susan L. Eskridge, Aidan McQuade, Benjamin Huang, Stephen M. Goldman and Christopher L. Dearth
Healthcare 2025, 13(10), 1164; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13101164 - 16 May 2025
Viewed by 106
Abstract
Introduction: This study assessed healthcare utilization in the first year after combat-related lower extremity injuries in 4275 U.S. Service members. Varying injury severity was hypothesized to correlate with different utilization patterns, with the limb salvage with secondary amputation (LS-SA) group expected to [...] Read more.
Introduction: This study assessed healthcare utilization in the first year after combat-related lower extremity injuries in 4275 U.S. Service members. Varying injury severity was hypothesized to correlate with different utilization patterns, with the limb salvage with secondary amputation (LS-SA) group expected to have the highest resource use. Methods: Data on inpatient admissions and outpatient visits were analyzed across four injury groups: primary amputation (PA), LS-SA, limb salvage with no amputation (LS-NA), and non-threatened limb trauma (NTLT). The LS-SA group had the highest mean total bed days and intensive care unit (ICU) days, with over 40% requiring four or more hospitalizations. The sample averaged 208.9 outpatient visits. Physical therapy, orthopedics, and social work had the highest clinic engagement. Result: Initial engagement in therapy clinics was high for PA and LS-SA but decreased for LS-NA and NTLT after the first quarter, while primary care engagement was more consistent. Physical therapy had the highest mean clinic utilization. Most initial inpatient admissions were at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. PA and LS-SA received the majority of outpatient care at three Advanced Rehabilitation Centers, while care was more distributed for LS-NA and NTLT. This study underscores the substantial healthcare burden of combat-related lower extremity injuries, with the LS-SA group exhibiting the greatest resource utilization. Conclusions: The findings emphasize the need to optimize extremity trauma care across the Military Healthcare System as Service members with these injuries require significant healthcare resources, necessitating optimization of both care delivery and the military healthcare system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medical Care Services in Orthopedic and Musculoskeletal Trauma Care)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop