90-90 skeletal femoral traction for femoral shaft fractures in children.

Ninety consecutive nonpathologic traumatic fractures of the shaft of the femur in pediatric patients above 3 years of age were seen from 1972 to 1976. Patients with less than 6 months' followup, patients with concomitant trauma to the same extremity, and one patient with decerebrate rigidity were excluded from the study. This left for evluation 60 fractures in 59 patients, all treated by 90-90 femoral skeletal traction. The average length of followup was 17.4 months. There were no pin tract infections. All patients had a full range of active and passive motion of the involved extremity. All of the children were engaged in the normal activities of their age group. Final femoral lengths by teleroentgenograms in patients followed over 1 year could not be correlated with the original fracture position whether distracted, end-on, or overriding. It is recommended that no more than 5 mm of overriding be accepted when using this method of treatment.