RESEARCH ARTICLE
Principles of Hand Fracture Management
DN Haughton1, D Jordan1, M Malahias1, S Hindocha*, 1, 2, W Khan3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2012Volume: 6
Issue: Suppl 1
First Page: 43
Last Page: 53
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-6-43
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001206010043
Article History:
Received Date: 4/9/2011Revision Received Date: 28/10/2011
Acceptance Date: 29/10/2011
Electronic publication date: 23/2/2012
Collection year: 2012

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
The hand is essential in humans for physical manipulation of their surrounding environment. Allowing the ability to grasp, and differentiated from other animals by an opposing thumb, the main functions include both fine and gross motor skills as well as being a key tool for sensing and understanding the immediate surroundings of their owner.
Hand fractures are the most common fractures presenting at both accident and emergency and within orthopaedic clinics. Appropriate evaluation at first presentation, as well as during their management, can significantly prevent both morbidity and disability to a patient. These decisions are dependant on a wide range of factors including age, hand dominance, occupation and co-morbidities.
A fracture is best described as a soft tissue injury with an associated bony injury. Despite this being the case, this paper intends to deal mainly with the bone injury and aims to discuss both the timing, as well as the methods available, of hand fracture management.