SUMMARY: Ten years of experience with non-surgical functional methods of treatment in 482 fractures suggests that healing of fractures of the tibia can be obtained in the overwhelming majority of instances and can be enhanced by functional activity of the musculature, motion of joints in the affected extremities, and weight-bearing. The functional method of treatment does not provide rigid immobilization to the fractured structures, and in fact allows minimal amounts of motion at the fracture site which associated with limb function, encourages early osteogenesis. Tibial fractures usually rest at the time of injury in a position of the total and eventual shortening found at the completion of healing. The soft tissues of the injured extremity

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