

But since the late 1980s, surgeons have increasingly operated to repair the break with a tiny headless screw.
#SCAPHOID BONE FRACTURE FULL#
Immobilising the wrist in a plaster cast for 6-10 weeks is generally sufficient for full healing. Young active men are the most likely to sustain this injury and could have arthritis in the wrist for the rest of their lives. But if it is does not repair normally, arthritis may develop in the wrist. Breaks across its midpoint, or waist, account for most fractures.Ī broken scaphoid bone is usually a straightforward injury. The scaphoid is the small bone on the thumb side of the wrist. It found that healing was similar with either approach but the surgical option was significantly more expensive. The Scaphoid Waist Internal Fixation for Fractures Trial (SWIFFT) compared the two ways of treating the break. However, before this study, there was little research into which method has the best outcome for patients and is most cost-effective. Traditionally, they have been healed by immobilising the wrist in a plaster cast but over the last two decades, surgeons have increasingly fixed the injury in surgery, by putting a small screw across the break. This is a plain English summary of an original research articleįractures of the scaphoid bone in the wrist are among the most common broken bone injuries.
