{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,13]],"date-time":"2026-05-13T17:22:36Z","timestamp":1778692956845,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"African Journals Online (AJOL)","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["gmj"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Objectives: This study is to compare the outcomes of pre-operative skeletal and skin traction in adult femoral shaft fractures awaiting surgical fixation within two weeks of presentation to the Accident Center of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.Methods: This study was a clinical trial on 86 recruited patients with closed femoral shaft fractures sustained within 24 hours of presentation grouped into 2 groups. Descriptive and inferential statistics comprising frequency, percentage, Chi-square, independent sample t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used in analysing the data.Results: Of the total number of patients involved in the study, 74% (n=64) were males and 26% (n=22) were females with a mean age of 39.49 (SD \u00b115). There was no statistically significant difference in the mean visual analogue scale (VAS) pain assessment between the Skin traction group and Trans-tibia skeletal traction group after traction. With regards to complications, the difference between the Skin traction group and the Skeletal traction group was statistically significant (P=0.001). Moreover, the mean blood loss compared with the open type of reduction in the Transtibia skeletal traction group was significantly less than the Skin traction group (p=0.000).Conclusion: This study has shown that both Skeletal traction and Skin traction were equally effective in controlling pre-operative pain in adult patients with femoral shaft fractures and does not affect intra-operative blood loss and postoperative management. Therefore, pre-operative Skin traction can be considered a useful and cost-effective method of maintaining alignment and pain relief in adult femoral shaft fractures.Keywords: Skin traction, Trans-tibia skeletal, reamed Intramedullary nailing, Intra-operative blood loss, Visual Analogue ScaleFunding: Personal Funding<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4314\/gmj.v54i3.4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,5]],"date-time":"2020-10-05T15:12:38Z","timestamp":1601910758000},"page":"146-150","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["A comparative evaluation of the efficacy between skeletal traction and skin traction in pre-operative management of femur shaft fractures in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital"],"prefix":"10.4314","volume":"54","author":[{"given":"Daniel","family":"Agbley","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Henry","family":"Holdbrook-Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yao","family":"Ahonon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2895","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,30]]},"container-title":["Ghana Medical Journal"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/gmj\/article\/download\/200219\/188816","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/gmj\/article\/download\/200219\/188816","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,5]],"date-time":"2020-10-05T15:12:46Z","timestamp":1601910766000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/gmj\/article\/view\/200219"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,30]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,3]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4314\/gmj.v54i3.4","relation":{},"ISSN":["0016-9560"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0016-9560","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,30]]}}}