Published Online:
July 8, 2009
This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows:
To assess the effects (benefits and harms) of interventions for treating acute simple elbow dislocations in adults.
We aim to compare:
1. different methods of closed reduction;
2. different types of post-reduction splinting (functional brace versus plaster cast);
3. different durations of immobilisation, including compared with no immobilisation or early mobilisation;
4. operative (e.g. repair of soft-tissue structures) versus non-operative intervention (typically, closed reduction and immobilisation);
5. different types of surgery, specifically side of repair of soft-tissue structures, and use of external fixation.