Physeal, metaphyseal, and diaphyseal injuries of the lower extremities in children with myelomeningocele.

A study of 16 patients with myelomeningocele who sustained 37 fractures revealed that children with diaphyseal and metaphyseal fractures presented with local warmth, redness, swelling, and increased general body temperature, leukocytosis, and sedimentation rate. These fractures were the result of a single stress or trauma and healed uneventfully by splinting for approximately 4 weeks. In physeal injuries, which probably resulted from repetitive stresses, the systemic response was less pronounced. These injuries had to be immobilized more rigidly in plaster casts for a minimum of 8 weeks.