This radiograph shows a 30-year-old man with a broken femur. Despite surgery, this patient was left with a nonunited fracture that bent into a crooked position.

This radiograph shows the final result after distraction of the fracture through the nonunion, using an external fixator.

Distraction through a nonunion allows correction of shortening and angulation and causes the fracture to heal. No surgical opening of the skin or the fracture site is needed. We achieve approximately a 90% success rate with this technique.