
Background: Simultaneous orthopaedic fracture fixation and abdominal surgery provide significant rehabilitation challenges due to physiological stress, delayed mobility, and the risk of complications. Damage-control orthopaedics (DCO) and accelerated recovery after surgery (ERAS) regimens have individually enhanced outcomes; however, evidence supporting their concurrent application in multi-system trauma remains scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the functional and rehabilitative outcomes of persons undergoing concurrent orthopaedic and gastrointestinal procedures during a single hospitalisation. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted from March 2024 to February 2025 at a tertiary trauma centre, including 36 consecutive adult patients who received both orthopaedic fracture fixation and abdominal surgery. The Barthel Index and Short Form-36 (SF-36) were utilised to assess functional outcomes at discharge, three months, and six months. Statistical analyses included repeated-measures ANOVA for longitudinal trends, Pearson correlation for associations, and multivariate linear regression to identify predictors of six-month recovery. We analysed the data with IBM SPSS Version 25.0. The group was 43.97 ± 15.57 years old on average, was in the hospital for 13.86 ± 6.23 days, and took 9.58 ± 3.05 days to get up and move around. Rehabilitation began in 94.4% of the patients. Functional scores improved significantly with time: Barthel/SF-36 composite scores were 40.72 ± 12.86 (discharge), 58.86 ± 14.71 (3 months), and 73.78 ± 15.21 (6 months) (p < 0.0001). Post-hoc analysis confirmed uniform functional enhancements across intervals. Delayed union (30.6%) and infection (22.2%) were orthopaedic issues, whereas sepsis (33.3%) and ileus (22.2%) were gastrointestinal issues. There were no fatalities. Correlation and regression analyses demonstrated that no single variable (age, sex, mobilisation delay, sepsis) exerted an independent effect on recovery. Conclusion: It is both possible and safe to undertake orthopaedic and abdominal surgeries at the same time in a multidisciplinary setting that follows DCO and ERAS principles. A significant improvement in function at six months shows that well-planned early rehabilitation and coordinated postoperative care can turn surgical survival into full recovery. These findings support a unified, patient-centered methodology for the therapy of complex trauma.
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