Most patients who have had hip fracture surgery do not return to their previous level of function. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between timing of hip fracture surgery and physical function in elderly patients. The subjects were 194 hip fracture patients (40 males, 154 females; mean age 79.5 ± 9.94 years) who underwent surgical procedures between January 2019 and May 2022. All patients were received standard rehabilitation treatment after surgically treated for fragility hip fracture. The patients were classified into two groups within 48 hours (early surgery group, N=27) or not (delayed surgery group, N=167) according to guideline from United States and Canada. Age, gender, fracture type, Koval’s grade, performance-based physical function (10 meter walk test, timed up and go, Berg balance scale). All functional outcomes were assessed at the beginning of rehabilitation and at discharge. The two groups are not significantly different in the demographic characteristics and operation type, and fracture site and side. The early surgery group had significantly lower length of stay, timed up and go and Koval’s grade at discharge. This study demonstrated that hip fracture surgery within 48 hours of admission is associated with better physical function in elderly patients.

So Young Lee is the Director of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in the Jeju National University Hospital, based in Jeju, South Korea. Professor Lee has published dozens of papers on the rehabilitation about musculoskeletal and stroke patients. After obtaining a doctor degree in medicine from the Jeju National University in 2009, she majored in rehabilitation medicine at the Jeju university hospital. Since she was appointed as a professor at Jeju National University Hospital in 2016, she has lectured several times every year for the local residents and conducts research and educational activities on various topics. She is also actively participating as an academic director of the Korean Society for Lymphedema and the Korean Academy of Geriatric Rehabilitation Medicine.