The use of locking intramedullary nails in the treatment of long bone fractures is common. We present our preliminary work in the use of inflatable self-locking intramedullary nails for the treatment of long bone fractures. Twenty one patients were included in this work: 13 males and 8 females. The mean age was 25 years (range (18 to 42 years)). There were 8 tibial, seven femoral, and six humeral fractures. The mean operation time was 40.5 minutes for the humeral fractures (range 30 to 170 minutes), 30 minutes for the tibial fractures (range 20–90 minutes), and 60 minutes (range 30–170 minutes) for the femoral fractures. The radiation exposure time was 0.22 minutes for the tibial fixation, 0.28 minutes for the humeral and 0.44 minutes for the femoral fractures. The mean follow-up period was 49 weeks (range 6 to 60 weeks).

Stable fixation with no axial deviation or displacement of the fracture fragments was seen in all cases. Patients could partially weight bear on the 2nd day after surgery. No post-operative complications were noted.

From this preliminary work we conclude that the use of the inflatable self-locking intramedullary nails in the treatment of long bone fractures is simple, quick and stable. This procedure does not need intramedullary reaming that may jeopardise the medullary canal vessels. The surgical as well as the radiation time required for fixation were reduced.