Does Lateral Bending Lead to Bowing Fracture in an Infantile Lower Arm?

Abstract

In a postmortem study on 50 lower arms of fetuses of the 25th week of gestation and newborn we performed three-point bending experiments to find out the stability of the lower arm after bending to the resulting fracture. Lower arms with intact soft tissue show an elastic behavior when bent from the side until fracture occurs. Applying the loading deflection diagrams we could classify the fractures into three types which differ significantly by means of bending moment, maximal deflection per unit length, and force required. © 1992, Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart, New York. All rights reserved.