The volar plating system is used to treat complex fractures of the distal radius. Distal refers to the farthest end of the bone. The radius is one of the two bones in the forearm that make up one side of the wrist joint.

For years and years, the main treatment approach for anyone over 65 with a wrist fracture was immobilization. Plaster casting was used for a long time. Then lighter materials were developed. And now sometimes, a removable rigid splint-like cast is used to allow for periods out of the cast such as when bathing.

The authors of this study start out by saying, Approximately 10 per cent of 65 year-old white women in the United States will sustain a distal radial fracture during the remainder of their lifetime. A distal radial fracture is a wrist fracture. Ouch! That seems like a lot. And with the aging Baby Boomers now part of that statistic, that could be you, not your mother. So, now that they have our attention, what's the message?

Discharge planning can be difficult with septic arthritis because of the many and varied complications that are possible. If all goes well and there is no evidence of pus within the first 24 to 48 hours, then the patient may get the thumbs up for a quick and speedy discharge to home.

Septic arthritis is the invasion of a joint by an infectious agent that produces arthritis. It can affect any of the joints in the body but has a tendency to settle in the large joints. This includes the hip, knee, and shoulder. The infectious agent starts someplace else (often a skin infection like cellulitis or from a urinary tract infection. It travels to the joint directly by local spread or through the blood system.

This is the first study to compare the results of open surgery versus arthroscopic surgery for septic arthritis of the wrist. The procedure was an irrigation and débridement. That means once the surgeon accessed the area of infection (either through an open incision or arthroscopically), saline fluid was used to flush the area clean (irrigation). In a second step (débridement), any fluid and any loose tissue or fragments of cartilage were removed.

You may be asking the question: does treatment for wrist fracture vary depending on where you live? Others have asked if it makes a difference how old you are, your race, or sex?

If you are over 65 years old and you break your wrist in Great Falls, Montana, will you get the same treatment as if you are over 65 and the injury occurs in California or Florida or Colorado? Researchers from Dartmouth Medical Center noticed that there aren't a lot of studies on the optimal treatment for distal radial fractures. So, they used Medicare records to answer a few questions about the current state of affairs.

Right now, most doctors prefer to fix an acute scaphoid fracture (fracture of the small bone on the thumb side of the wrist, where the wrist bends) with surgery if the break moves the bones, or displaces them. The chances of the bones not joining or not fusing properly are higher, so surgery's role is fairly obvious.

The scaphoid bone, the small wrist bone at the base of the thumb, is easily broken, particularly if someone falls on an outstretched hand. Treatment of such a fracture is debatable among some surgeons as some prefer to do casting, while others prefer surgery for optimal healing. For casting, it's estimated that 90 percent to 95 percent of scaphoid waist fracture are healed by cast in about three months.