246 



HEALTH AND DISEASE 



If it should be decided to do anything, we would advise the simple 

 course of slinging, after the whole limb has been straightened and put into 

 a starch bandage. 



FRACTURE OF THE RADIUS 



Fracture of the radius, or fore-arm, like most other fractures of the 

 bones of the limbs, is the result of kicks and blows, or false steps, or it 

 may arise in the struggles to recover the leg from some 

 fixed position. A blow on the inner side of the bone, 

 where it is least protected by muscles, is more likely to 

 occasion a fracture than one on the outer side or back 

 of the limb. 



Symptoms. An incomplete fracture of this bone, 

 without displacement, affords no other evidence of its 

 existence than local pain and swelling, with more or less 

 lameness, and in this form of injury recovery may be looked 

 forward to under proper treatment, and the same may be 

 said of complete fracture when the broken parts continue 

 to hold together. 



It is when the broken fragments are separated that 

 the case reaches its more serious aspect. 



Here the animal fails to bear any weight upon the 

 limb, and locomotion becomes impossible. The leg below 

 the fracture displays abnormal mobility, and when raised 

 from the ground swings forward and backward and bends 

 from side to side. Crepitation is readily detected, and the 

 part is swollen, hot, and painful to the touch. 



Treatment. If the animal is young and docile, and 

 the tissues in the region of the fracture have not been 

 seriously damaged, and the parts are promptly brought 

 together, reparation may possibly be effected. The chances, 

 however, are too often in favour of the contrary result; 

 and even in the majority of those cases in which a reunion is effected, 

 some deformity, or other equally serious defect, remains behind. 



It is only, therefore, in animals of considerable value that treatment is 

 likely to be remunerative where successful. Since quietude is one of the 

 first requirements of treatment, the patient must, as soon as possible, be 

 placed in slings, and if a properly - constructed operating -table is not at 

 hand, whereon chloroform may be given, a dose of morphia will have the 

 effect of rendering. him more manageable during readjustment of the broken 



2 



Fig. 336. Oblique 

 Fracture of the 

 Radius 



