Functional fracture bracing in metacarpal fractures: the Galveston metacarpal brace versus a plaster-of-Paris bandage in a prospective study.

A total of 133 patients with fractures of the second through the fifth metacarpal bones were randomized to receive either a functional brace (the Galveston metacarpal brace) or a dorsal/ulnar plaster cast. Only 42% of the patients in the metacarpal-brace group completed the treatment, in contrast to 81% of the patients in the plaster-cast group. Complications with the brace were due to 60% of the exclusion. No difference according to gender, age, fracture type, hand affected (right/left), or mechanism of injury was observed between the patients who completed the treatment and those who were excluded. Reduction of fractures could not be demonstrated. Reduction of mobility was more frequent in the plaster-cast group, but three months postinjury no reduction of mobility was observed in either group.