Background and Objective: Different external skeletal fixators have been widely used in preoperative traction of high-energy tibial fractures prior to a definitive surgical treatment. However, early complications associated with this staged treatment for traction and soft tissue injury recovery have rarely been discussed. This study aimed to analyze the early complications associated with preoperative external traction fixation in the staged treatment of tibial fractures.Materials and Methods: A total of 402 patients with high-energy tibial fractures treated using preoperative external traction fixation at a level-1 trauma center from 2014 to 2018 were enrolled in this retrospective study. Data regarding the demographic information, Tscherne soft tissue injury, fracture site, entry point placement, and duration of traction were recorded. Procedure-related complications such as movement and sensation disorder, vessel injury, discharge, infection, loosening, and iatrogenic fracture were analyzed.Results: The mean patient age was 42.5 (18–71) years and the mean duration of traction was 7.5 (0–26) days. In total, 19 (4.7%) patients presented with procedure-related complications, including technique-associated complications in 6 patients and nursing-associated complications in 13. Differences in the incidence of complications with respect to sex, affected side, soft tissue injury classification, and fracture sites were not observed. However, the number of complications due to hammer insertions was significantly fewer than those due to drill insertions (2.9% vs. 7.4%).Conclusion: The application of preoperative external traction fixation had been proved to be an ideal alternative treatment for high energy tibial fractures. In this study, we found the incidence of early complications of the fixation is low, and it is not significantly associated with the severity of soft tissue injury and fracture site. Although relatively rough and more likely to cause pain, complications of hammer insertions were significantly fewer than drill insertions. The possible reason was higher probability of heat damage and loosening by drilling.