Control of motion of tibial fractures with use of a functional brace or an external fixator. A study of cadavera with use of a magnetic motion sensor.

A computer-linked magnetic motion transducer was used to monitor and record the six components of motion of the bone fragments in eight cadaveric tibiae in which a simulated, oblique fracture of the middle of the shaft had been stabilized with a functional brace. The limbs were mounted in a servo-hydraulic testing frame, and a cyclic load of 150 newtons was applied along the axis of the tibia. Motion sensors, attached to each side of the fracture, measured and displayed the values of the three translations (axial, anterior-posterior, and medial-lateral), the axial rotation, and the two angulations (anterior-posterior and varus-valgus) as they occurred. Although only an axial load was applied, the off-axis motions were comparable in magnitude with the motion along the axis. The elastic (recoverable) translations of the fragments ranged from 0.5 to 1.9 millimeters, about four to ten times larger than the corresponding motions that were recorded in an earlier study of such fractures that had been stabilized with two types of external fixators. The recoverable rotation and angulations of the fragments of the limbs in the functional brace ranged from 0.7 to 1.2 degrees, about ten times those recorded when the external fixators were used.