A researcher from Scotland has appeared with a surgical technique that could spell the end of the plaster cast for certain kinds of injuries. The new technique makes use of internal support that is inserted through keyhole surgery. Plaster casts are frequently used to keep injured limbs immobile.
The lead researcher Prof Gordon Mackay from the Ross Hall hospital in Glasgow wanted to discover a technique of avoiding the muscle-wasting and bother of plaster casts, boots and slings. He makes use of keyhole surgery to insert a tiny piece of tape which acts as a brace over injured ligaments.
The brace allows movement but at the same time supports the ligaments while they heal. It means patients need not to have their injured joint immobilized and recovery times in this technique are much faster. The new technique is attracting the interest of particularly sportspeople and athletes, who cannot afford to spend weeks to recover from ligament damage.
Prof Mackay believes anyone who has had the experience of trying to put a knitting needle down the cast to get to an itch would realize that a stookie is extremely unpleasant. Also, when it comes off, the limb tends to be festering within and the muscles have wasted to nothing.
The new procedure has been carried on about twenty patients in the UK by Prof Mackay and he is working together with the well-known Steadman Clinic in the US, which has treated many injured sport stars. He stated if one can move much more quickly then will not get all the secondary problems and it is much more comfortable for the patient.
The problem they have had earlier is that if the joint is unstable it is uncomfortable to move and if one moves it too quickly then the tissues stretch and fail. Here they have an internal brace which prevents the tissues from stretching but still allows one to mobilize the joint with some confidence, added Prof Mackay.