The contribution of a plaster cast to avoid displacement after a distal radius fracture has been investigated in several studies. This research has shown that treatment with early mobilisation of non-displaced or minimally displaced distal radius fractures largely produces the same radiographic result as conventional plaster cast fixation [1–3]. When slightly displaced distal radius fractures were reduced and randomised to immobilisation in a plaster cast for 3 weeks compared with 5 weeks, early mobilisation did not lead to a greater loss of reduction in two studies [4, 5] but to a slight increase in radial angulation in one study [6].