Injury
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The maintenance of friction between locking plates and bone is not essential, so that they can be applied with a gap between the plate and underlying bone. We hypothesised that the presence of a gap under a locking plate with a conical coupling mechanism would reduce fixation stability or allow uncoupling of the locking screws from the plate. ⋯ Elevation of locking plates with a conical coupling system by 2 mm from the bone reduced construct fatigue life but did not result in screw head uncoupling from the plate.