A thousand wrist healing splints donated by a mainland pharmaceutical company together with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) to victims of the Sichuan earthquake have been given full play in the quake-shattered zones.

The medical device was invented by the PolyU's department of rehabilitation sciences (RS) and department of industrial & systems engineering (ISE) in 2006, and was commercialized by Guizhou Tongjitang Pharmaceutical Company (GTPC) the next year.

RS associate professor Guo Xia contacted GPTC on May 20 after she learnt from the website of Red Cross Society of China Sichuan Branch that the disaster area was short of plaster casts.

She asked the company to donate some "Flexi-wrist Healing Braces", an invention of her department, to the quake-stricken province.

In Mianzhu, a 70-year-old woman who suffered an open fracture of her wrist had it put in a plaster cast after a surgery but this resulted in swelling.

The plaster cast was replaced with one of the healing braces. "The swelling disappeared in two days," Guo said.

Guo explained that windows on the device are designed to allow ventilation, which makes it much more suitable than plaster casts in hot weather in Sichuan.

She added the healing brace is the most suitable for elderly patients who have greater chance of suffering wrist fracture, or females aged over 50, who are more prone to osteoporosis after menopause.

However, she admitted the device cannot speed up rehabilitation.

Guo warned that plaster cast use has an 85 percent chance of bone deformation in elderly patients.

Elderly patients fitted with a plaster cast for over six weeks will also risk muscle shrinkage as the immobility affects blood supply.

(HK Edition 06/06/2008 page1)