Cast bracing in practice: a two-year study in Aberdeen

This paper reviews the use of cast bracing of fractures of the femoral shaft over a two-year period in an orthopaedic unit which provides a service to half a million people in the Grampian Region. More than three-quarters of the patients with fractures of the femoral shaft admitted to hospital were treated by cast bracing and these patients are reviewed. In 1976 the cast braces were applied at an average of 6.3 weeks after fracture and in 1977 after an average of 5 weeks, with consequent savings in hospital bed time. The average time to union remained remarkably constant at around 14.5 weeks. The less than good results are looked at critically with a view to avoiding these in the future.