Toddlers Fractures - Cast Versus Removable Boot

Summary

A toddler's fracture is a fracture that occurs in the lower leg, oven the shin, of children 9 months to four years of age. It usually happens when a young child twists the leg while running or jumping. It is one of the most common injuries of the leg in this age group. In Canada and the United States there are about 80,000 cases per year that present to emergency departments. The good news is that these fractures are stable injuries and heal exceptionally well, without any reported concerns for problems in the future. Despite this, most children with this fracture are managed in a restrictive full circular cast, often including the entire leg, for three to six weeks. This cast management then also includes about two to three repeat visits to see a bone doctor, where the cast is often changed and new x-rays are taken with each visit. However, none of these things has ever been shown to change the way these young children's fractures heal. Further, casting can cause harm such as skin irritation or poor cast fit which may result in problems that are more distressing than the fracture itself. There are also costs to consider. The needless excess costs of the current management strategy in Canada alone can be estimated to be about 1.8 million dollars annually. And so, increasingly, some doctors are choosing to manage these stable fractures with a supportive device on the lower leg, a removable walking boot. This type of device can be taken off as needed by the parent and child and used only as long as the child needs it to manage the pain that results from this stable fracture. This makes caring for the child much easier and allows the child to return to activities when the child is ready. Further, families do not necessarily need to return to a bone doctor for cast changes or x-rays or reassessment. Since this fracture recovers so well, patients can see their family doctor to make sure their child is returning to activity as expected and have their questions about recovery answered. But, in order to be sure that the removable walking boot works as well as a cast in these fractures, we need to do a well-designed study to make sure we consider all the important aspects of making this change. As a result, in children with toddler's fractures, we will compare the traditional treatment of cast placement to a removable walking boot with respect to how each immobilization strategy controls pain and how quickly children return to their usual activities. We hope that children treated with a removable walking boot will still be able to achieve good pain control while their injury is healing. It is possible too those children will even return to their activities sooner and this newer strategy could save the health care system money.

Conditions

• Toddler's Fracture

Interventions

DEVICE

LPWB

The LPWB will be placed by clinical staff who will have been trained on the proper application of this device at the initial ED visit. At ED discharge, both populations will receive identical documentation on recommendations for weight bearing, type and frequency of analgesics, reasons to return for medical attention. The only difference will be care instructions related to the specific immobilization device. Specifically, the experimental group will be permitted to remove the LPWB as early as one week post ED visit as tolerated by the patient's symptoms.

DEVICE

AKWC

If the patient is randomised to AKWC, it will be apply by a cast technician. Children with AKWC immobilization will be provided with up to two appointments in the orthopedic clinic. In case the AKWC could not been placed at initial visit, the first will be within 72 hours of the ED visit to have the fiberglass AKWC placed. The second appointment will be for cast removal.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Population Services International

  collaborator OTHER

• The Hospital for Sick Children

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

9 Months

Max Age

4 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-01-01

Primary Completion

2024-03-15

Completion

2024-03-15

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations