Limb fractures in patients with spinal cord injury.

Abstract

Limb fractures that occur late in patients with spinal paralysis are considered to be different enough to warrant variations in treatment. In the author's experience, treatment ensures that the functional level is unchanged when healing occurs. Treatment includes use of splints, made of soft materials, that are effective, inexpensive, safe, and allow for good healing. There is motion at the fracture site but, in the author's experience, healing occurs in all fractures except those at the femoral neck. Treatment with soft materials is the least expensive treatment method because it does not require hospitalization, surgery is not recommended, the bone is so soft and pathological that it does not hold firmly with internal fixation, rehabilitation is simplified.