Surgery to realign the fracture

What does this mean?
Surgery lines up the bone and holds it in place with metal implants such as plates and screws (figure).

Figure: surgery with plates and screws.

Advantages
Surgery can improve the chances of healing, improve motion, and limit later arthritis. You can start using your arm as soon as you’re comfortable, but it still takes months to get the elbow stretches out.

Disadvantage
Surgery has risks. Major problems that might require more surgery are infection, loss of fixation, and nerve damage. It’s common to have some numbness in the small finger and some issues with hand dexterity after surgery, but this usually recovers over many months. There are small risks associated with anesthesia.