Abstract:[Objective] To compare the clinical efficacy of elastic stable intramedullary nailing (ESIN) and locking intramedullary nail(LIN) for femoral shaft fractures in children and adolescents. [Methods] A retrospective study was conducted on 38 patients who receivedsurgical treatment for femoral shaft fractures from January 2017 to July 2023. According to preoperative doctor-patient communication, 29cases were treated with ESIN, while 9 cases were treated with LIN. The perioperative, follow-up and imaging results were compared be-tween the two groups. [Results] The ESIN proved significantly superior to the LIN in terms of operating time [(103.8±37.4) min vs (188.3±28.5) min, P<0.001], total incision length [(3.0±0.6) cm vs (6.4±0.7) cm, P<0.001], intraoperative blood loss [(33.6±26.7) ml vs (145.6±45.3) ml, P<0.001], intraoperative fluoroscopy times [(6.5±1.2) times vs (12.9±1.3) times, P<0.001] and hospital stay [(7.3±2.3) days vs(11.9±1.3) days, P<0.001]. The follow-up time was >12 months, and the ESIN cohort resumed walking [(44.1±5.7) days vs (67.7±10.2)days, P<0.001] and full weight-bearing activity time [(84.8±10.3) days vs (102.8±21.5) days, P=0.038] significantly earlier than the LIN co-hort. Compared with those 3 months after surgery, Harris score, hip extension-flexion ROM, HSS score and knee extension-flexion ROMwere significantly increased in both groups at the last follow-up (P<0.05). The ESIN proved significantly better than the LIN regarding tohip extension-flexion ROM [(110.5±4.2)° vs (100.6±3.0)°, P<0.001] 3 months postoperatively, as well as HSS score [(84.1±1.7) vs (74.4±4.2), P<0.001; (94.4±0.9) vs (92.5±1.8), P=0.005], knee extension-flexion ROM [(114.4±3.9)° vs (71.4±4.6)°, P<0.001; (125.0±3.5)° vs(106.2±3.4)°, P<0.001] 3 months after operation and at the latest follow-up. As for images, the femoral alignment, femoral bilateral lengthdiscrepancy and femoral neck-shaft angle (NSA) significantly improved in both groups postoperatively (P<0.05). However, the ESIN cohorthad greater NSA than the LIN cohort (P<0.05). [Conclusion] ESIN used for relatively stable femoral fractures is simple, safe and has goodfunctional recovery. However, for relatively unstable fractures, LIN fixation may be considered.