1. The most efficient internal screw fixation in oblique fractures is that in which the screws are inserted in a direction perpendicular to the bone cortex.
2. Test loading has shown that such application of screws results in an increase in the contact between the surfaces of the two fragments. The same effect should result from weight-bearing.
3. The amount of stress withstood by this type of fixation suggests that when the screws are properly inserted there is a sufficient margin of safety to permit earlier weight-bearing, especially if a circular plaster splint is used to take up the lateral stresses.