Treatment of difficult and involved Colles' fractures.

Of 105 cases of Colles' fracture, 86 were treated by closed reduction and plaster immobilization alone; 19 cases in which the fractures were more severe were treated by fixed skeletal traction using an external skeletal traction splint. Despite the greater severity of the lesions, the end results, both anatomic and functional, were generally better in those cases in which skeletal traction was used than in those treated by closed reduction.