5. Results.

Study ID	Treatment group	Patient satisfaction	Cosmetic appearance	Pain	Fracture angulation
Anand 1999	Cast	nd	20 of 21 patients satisfied	None of the patients at 3 months	Dorsal angulation post Rx: 27º (5º‐45º)
	Compression bandage	nd	28 of 28 patients satisfied	None of the patients at 3 months	Dorsal angulation post Rx: 41º (15º‐80º)
Braakman 1998b	Cast	Number of patients with subjective residual symptoms 9 of 25.	nd	nd	Mean angulation (range): 27.4º (0º‐67º)
	Tape	Number of patients with subjective residual symptoms 8 of 23.	nd	nd	Mean 24.7º, range (2º‐46º)
Harding 2001	Metacarpal brace	Overall satisfaction: fully satisfied 6, satisfied 22, dissatisfied 9.	One patient complaint about a lump at the fracture side.	Mean pain score (possible range 0‐3): 0.6 (0‐2)	nd
	Neighbour strapping	Overall satisfaction: fully satisfied 5, satisfied 15, dissatisfied 8.	One patient complaint about a lump at the fracture side.	Mean pain score (possible range 0‐3): 1.6 (0‐3)	nd
Kuokkanen 1999	Cast	nd	nd	nd	Median (range) 35º (10º‐55º), at 4 weeks 30º (10º‐50º), at 3 months 29º (10º‐50º)
	Compression bandage	nd	nd	nd	Median (range) 48º (35º‐60º), at 4 weeks 42º (20º‐60º), at 3 months 42º (20º‐60º)
Statius Muller 2003	Cast	At 6 weeks fully satisfied 60%, at 12 weeks 80%.	nd	At 6 weeks no pain: 87%, at 12 weeks 93%	nd
	Compression bandage	At 6 weeks fully satisfied 60%, at 12 weeks 80%.	nd	At 6 weeks no pain: 70%, at 12 weeks 95%	nd

nd: not described 
 Rx: treatment