Repair vs Non-repair of the Pronator Quadratus Muscle in Distal Radius Fractures. RCT.

Fractures of the distal radius are common in the elderly. A frequent treatment of an unstable DRF is surgery with volar plating using the modified Henry's approach. In some cases the fracture mechanism has injured the PQ muscle and subsequent reconstruction of the muscle can be difficult. When the PQ muscle is not injured the plate is fixated through a radial and distal release of the PQ muscle and resuture/repair of the PQ muscle is attempted by most surgeons. The clinical relevance of repairing the PQ muscle has not previously been investigated in a randomised clinical trial and we hypothesise that there is no difference in functional outcome whether the PQ muscle is repaired or not.