If you have the patience to read this fully and then watch the video; I promise that you will learn something new. Fractures of the humerus. The ergonomic and physiological view. It has been a time honoured tradition to immobilise humerus fractures with an elbow in flexion. From the days of Robert Jones and Hugh Owen Thomas, we have been taught to use a U slab and sling.
This was because it was feared that if immobilised in extension, the elbow will become stiff and functionless. What I am proposing here is exactly opposite of what is given in the books, but then these are my experiences. I am probably one of the most blessed orthopaedic surgeons in the world because fortunes gave me an opportunity to study fractures of humeral shaft in great detail. For fifteen years I operated almost all shaft humerus fractures, and then for the next thirteen years I had to treat every single one…
