Skeletal traction is an efficient method of treating compound, extensively comminuted, oblique fractures of the femur.
In the presence of extensive wounds of soft tissue and bone, skeletal traction is definitely the treatment of choice.
Supracondylar traction is preferred to traction through the tibial crest, because there is less chance of infection or of pressure necrosis of soft parts or bone. Traction throughm the involved bone is more efficient than traction through the tibial crest.