Salter-Harris II forearm fracture reduction and fixation using a buttress plate

Distal radius fractures are common injuries in children. Those that affect the growth plate (physis) need to be managed carefully as inadequate management may lead to long-term deformity and a reduction in function. However, different management strategies all have drawbacks and controversy exists over how best to manage these cases. This is the case of a 13-year-old girl who presented with a Salter Harris II fracture, which was managed using a novel approach of utilising a T plate in a buttress mode to stabilise the fracture after anatomical reduction. This provided effective fracture fixation and should allow good bone healing without causing any iatrogenic growth plate damage and without fixing a plate across the physis, which may need removal in the future.