Year Book: Forearm Fractures in Children: Cast Treatment With the Elbow

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Extended. Walker, JL. Rang, M. Abstract/Commentary:|1992 Year Book of Orthopedics. Article 1-33.|Original Article:|J Bone Joint Surg. 1991. 73-B. pp 299-301.. Background.--Fractures of the proximal forearm in young children may be unstable with the elbow flexed but stable when the elbow is in extension. However, immobilization of these fractures in the stable, extended position has rarely been recommended because of the risk of a stiff elbow in extension and because the cast tends to slip off. Methods.--Between 1981 and 1987, 15 children with forearm shaft fractures were treated with long-arm casts with the elbow in extension. Six patients had fractures that displaced after initial splinting with the elbow flexed. Benzoin was used to make the skin sticky under the padding, and the casts were molded in the supracondylar region. The mean immobilization period was 39 days.