Vol. 9, Issue 2, Part A (2025)

Background: Acute traumatic lower limb fractures impose significant loss to the patient, his family and the community as a whole in terms of morbidity, man hour loss and loss of income. Acute traumatic lower limb fractures are lower limb fractures caused by a single incident most commonly due to road traffic accidents and fall from heights. Fractures of the lower limb are of different forms but the same basic principles of treatment can be applied to all the fractures; these include resuscitation, radiograph, reduction, maintaining the reduction and rehabilitation of the patients.

Methodology: The study was a one year prospective observational study carried out at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, and South-East Nigeria. Patients aged 5-70 yrs presenting within 2 weeks of the fracture were recruited into the study over a period of six months and followed up for a minimum of six months, through treatment and rehabilitation. The early outcome measures in this study included time of callous formation, speed of fracture union, and presence of complications and length of hospital stay.

Results: A total of 72 patients completed the study, 48(66.7%) males and 24(33.3%) females with age range of 5-70 years and a mean age of 34.4 yrs. The study showed that 80.6% of patient’s fractures were caused by RTA, and motorcycles were involved in 51.7% with 34.7% of patients presenting within 1-6 hours of injury. The femur and tibia were the most fractured bones and mostly closed in 59.7% of patients. The most common fracture pattern was oblique fracture 55.6%, and head injury was the most common associated injury. Majority (56.9%) of the patients had operative treatment with complications observed in 45.8% of patients and delayed union was the commonest complication, 30.6% of cases.

Conclusion: Males are affected more, mostly due to RTA involving motorcycles involving ages of 15-54 years. The femur and tibia were fractured most in the lower limb and closed fracture was the most common. Operative treatment was the most common mode of treatment and delayed union was the most common complication seen. It was concluded that open lower limb fractures are more likely to have delayed union than closed fractures.

Recommendations: It is recommended that the use of commercial motorcycles should be reduced by providing alternative means of public transportation and regular road safety education should be carried out in motorcycle parks.