Proper Splinting

A splint is defined as a device that is made to hold an injured body part stable and motionless to prevent pain and further injury. Properly built and applied, a splint can save a lot of misery in the long run. Improperly done, a splint can actually cause injury by forcing the body out of alignment or allowing the injury to progress.

Significance

• If you're at the site of an injury and you expect emergency services to take longer than 15 to 20 minutes to reach you, it's best to apply a splint to the injured body part. The splint keeps the injured body part reasonably safe from further injury and can stabilize the pain cycle somewhat. However, an improperly applied splint can have a number of ill effects: poorly setting a bone, for instance, or cutting off circulation to an injured area that very much needs it. Classes in proper splinting are widely available at your local hospital, outdoorsman's organization, or Red Cross.

Function

• There are two components to a proper splint: the rigid part that holds the body in place and the soft wrappings that secure the body to the splint. While there are many disorder-specific commercial splints available at drugstores and medical suppliers, most splints are created under duress, on the site of an injury. These splints are built from the materials immediately available on the injury site and are applied by non-medical professionals while waiting for emergency services to arrive. As such, it's important to understand the basic art and science of splinting so that you can be prepared. You'll never know when you'll be in a situation in which you need to create and apply one.

Preparing to Splint

• Always seek medical help before beginning the splinting process. After you've made the call, begin by cleaning any wounds. Then set about splinting the injured part in the position in which it was found. First, find something rigid to act as the supporting component (you can use anything that fits: sticks, rulers, boards, rolled-up newspaper, etc.) If nothing at all is available, sometimes an uninjured body part can be used to support an injured part (this is sometimes an excellent strategy for injured fingers, as the adjacent finger is convenient for the purpose.)

Applying the Splint

• The splint should go a bit beyond the injured area in order to be properly stabilizing. As a rule, the splint should go from the joint on one side of the injury to the joint on the other side. The splint may be secured with some sort of tie-off (a rope, a belt, torn strips of cloth, a necktie). If the injury is on or close to the ankle or wrist, secure the splint by wrapping the bandage in a figure eight around the wrist or ankle. Ensure that the ties aren't too tight, and that any knots you tie do not press into the injury. While waiting for emergency services, continually check the body for swelling, lack of circulation (blanching of the skin) and numbness.

Warning

• A splint is not meant to set a bone. Any splint should maintain the alignment of the body part to its position when found. However, if the object body part has sustained an injury that involves a compound fracture (in which bone is seen protruding through the skin), loss of feeling, or loss of pulse beyond the injury, contact emergency services without delay and follow their instructions. If emergency services are not available in any of these instances and the injured body part is bent visibly beyond its normal alignment, it may improve circulation to very gently move the injured part back into normal alignment and use a splint to keep it in place.