Rehabilitation in extremity fractures.

General principles in the rehabilitation of a patient with an extremity fracture include: treat the patient, not the x-ray; move all joints not immobilized; prevent disuse atrophy; use gravity to assist in mobilizing a joint; stabilize proximal joints to avoid reverse action of biarticular muscles; permit early protected weight bearing until adequate joint mobility is achieved; appropriately instruct the patient in a home program, and avoid all stretching.