New method may end plaster casts

The plaster cast has been used to keep injured limbs immobile. The technique uses an internal support which is inserted via keyhole surgery.

Plaster casts or "stookies", as they are known in Scotland, are used to keep injured limbs immobile.

But Professor Gordon Mackay wanted to find a way of avoiding the muscle-wasting and inconvenience of plaster casts, boots and slings.

The professor, from the Ross Hall hospital in Glasgow, said: "I think anyone who's had the experience of trying to put a knitting needle down the cast to get to an itch will realise that a stookie is extremely unpleasant.

"Also, when it comes off, the limb tends to be festering within and your muscles have wasted to nothing."

Ligament damage

Prof Mackay uses keyhole surgery to insert a tiny piece of tape which acts as a brace over injured ligaments.

The brace allows movement but supports the ligaments while they heal.