FUNCTIONAL TREATMENT OF HUMERAL SHAFT FRACTURES - INDICATIONS AND RESULTS

Objective: To determine effectiveness of closed functional bracing for humeral shaft fractures. Design: Retrospective. Setting: University. Patients: Eighty-seven patients with humeral shaft fractures. Interven tion: All patients were treated with closed functional bracing. Main O utcomes Measured: Both subjective and objective criteria were measured . Objective criteria consisted of range of motion and radiographic mea surements. Subjective data were recorded using the Hannover Shoulder S core. Results: Eighty-six percent of the follow-up group showed no res trictions in the movement of their shoulder and elbow joints. On the b asis of subjective criteria, 95% of the patients were content with the functional treatment, 65% claimed to be pain free in their daily acti vities and at work, and 35% felt pain only when doing vigorous activit ies or heavy physical work. Although malposition with an angulation gr eater than 10 degrees was observed in ten patients (12.6%), functional outcome was good or excellent in two thirds of the cases followed up. Conclusions: When the correct indications are present, functional tre atment of humeral shaft fractures has proven to be an excellent method that is both reliable and cost effective.