Braces can be used to immobilize and protect joints, reduce pain, reduce swelling and facilitate the healing of acute injuries. At the wrist-hand level, the orthoses model usually prescribed is the cock-up, as it allows the wrist to be stabilized, guaranteeing complete manual dexterity of the fingers during the execution of specific tasks. There are different models of cock-ups, from commercial ones (CO) to those made to measure with low temperature thermoplastic materials (TH).
In this case report, a sample of 20 healthy women, aged between 23 and 59 years, was recruited and tested with the Functional Dexterity Test (FDT), the degree of customer satisfaction (CSD-It) of the Orthotics and Prosthetics Users’ Survey and a subjective question about the most appreciated type of orthoses.
Since the performance and comfort results were similar for CO and TH, the decision to prescribe a specific type of orthoses may depend on several factors such as hand function, manual dexterity, performance, comfort and, above all, the patient preference.