See Also
1. Improvised Traction Splint
2. Improvised Fracture Splint
Epidemiology
1. Wilderness Management goes beyond golden hour
  1. Four hour rescue effort per one mile in backcountry
2. Reduce Fractures and dislocations
  1. Dislocated shoulder
    1. Shoulder reduction is manageable in wilderness
    2. Functional prognosis is poor for delayed reduction
      1. Four hour delay risks Frozen Shoulder in 50%
  2. Femur Fracture
    1. Apply traction splints for femur Fractures
    2. Mortality significant for >4 hour delayed reduction
General Measures
1. Maintain Circulation
  1. Check splints every 15 minutes for circulation
    1. Check distal pulses
    2. Check distal capillary refill
  2. Assess symptoms of neurovascular compromise
    1. Distal extremity warmth
    2. Distal extremity movement
    3. Distal extremity Paresthesias
Helpful materials
1. Sam Splints (padded malleable aluminum)

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 6/1/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.