[Surgical therapy of frequent hand injuries. 1: Fractures and capsular ligament injuries]

The hand is often involved in accidents and injuries. Most of these injuries can be treated adequately by the physician providing initial care. This paper gives the reader an outline of the most common hand injuries with the aim of facilitating recognition of the involvement of functional structures and thus ensure proper treatment or referral to the specialist. If a good functional results is to be achieved, misalignments in the longitudinal and transverse axes or torsional misalignments must be avoided. Fixation procedures facilitate provision of early-functional aftercare. In the event of injuries to the capsular ligament, a differentiation between complete and incomplete ruptures is of decisive importance for the further treatment.