Bone fragments resulting from a Colles' fracture of the distal radius bone are set in position by an external fixator that includes mounting structures attachable to the radius at a site proximal to the fracture and to a metacarpal, joined by a connector whose length is capable of both gross adjustment and precision adjustment, each mounting structure providing degrees of freedom independently of the connector length, the mounting structure at the radius end providing independent degrees of freedom for rotation around a proximal-distal axis and for rotation about an axis transverse to an axis parallel to the proximal-distal axis.