Towards evidence based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 2: do wrist splints need to have a thumb extension when immobilising suspected scaphoid fractures?

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether wrist splints require a thumb extension when immobilising suspected scaphoid fractures. 63 papers were found using the reported searches, of which 2 presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. It is concluded that while there is no direct evidence to answer the clinical question, the research available strongly suggests that it is reasonable to continue using standard wrist splints to immobilise patients with suspected scaphoid fractures.