As per a new study released on Tuesday, the fractures in children can be rectified with the use of splints as casts. The study appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

In the study, the researchers observed 92 children aged five to 12, who visited Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto’s emergency room between April 2007 and September 2009, to get their broken wrists set right.

In 43 of these children, splint was fixed to the broken bone, while in 49 of the cases, casts were placed.

Dr. Kathy Boutis, an emergency room pediatrician at the Hospital and co-author of the study stated that they found that children with both the mechanisms showed good results. He added that they were not interested in finding as to which treatment was better, in fact they wanted to examine the safety of the splint.

Boutis said, “The researchers found the splint was at least as effective as the cast, and wrist movement and strength were similar”.

The patients kept coming to the hospital for regular checkups. In both the cases, the movement of the wrist was similar, which was confirmed by X-rays.

The comparison can be made between splints and casts on the basis of their cost, which is $45 and $70, respectively. Splint is more cost effective as it can also be made through plaster of Paris.