Linked by coach Greg on the NEW Oakville Men’s Gymnastics blog:
The splint’s advantage is that it can be removed occasionally to wash the arm or let it breathe, study finds …
The study, published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, looked at 92 children aged 5 to 12 who arrived in the hospital’s emergency room from April, 2007, and September, 2009, with broken wrists.
The fractures were a clear break of the bone, and the bone could be a little bit bent or displaced for the child to qualify for the study. Forty-three kids received a splint and the remaining 49 were put in a cast. …
click through to read the details – Globe and Mail – A splint just as good as cast for kid’s broken wrist: study
That’s for a clean break. If there are complications (i.e. growth plate) it might mean a full cast.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 