expander 58 so that the bone cortex is held between the proximal portion 60 and outer fork 54 as depicted in fig7 distal portion 62 of the expander 58 extends distally through the medullary canal until the distal end 64 of the expander 58 comes into contact with subchondral bone at the end of the medullary canal as described above fixation device 10 can include an expander 16 interposed between the first member 12 and the second member 14 to facilitate moving first member 12 and second member 14 apart to support the two halves of the comminuted fractured portion of the distal radius and prevent the fractured portions of the bone from returning to their post fracture alignment in one embodiment expander 16 may include a ratchet 42 in this example expander 16 will be referred to as being secured to second member 14 and to be slidably fixable relative to first member 12 however it is to be understood that expander 16 may be fixed to either first member 12 or second member 14 and may be slidingly engagable to either first member 12 or second member 14 in other embodiments expander 16 may be threaded so that one end has a right hand thread and the other end.