70.8 Chinese wooden splints

You can use splints made of strips of wood padded with paper and cloth for fractures of the humerus, radius, and ulna, and for extension fractures of the wrist. There is no evidence that they are better that plaster casts, but if you don’t have plaster, you may find them useful. Wooden splints are light, tenaceous, elastic, radiotranslucent, permeable to the natural moisture of the skin, and can be moulded to the shape of the limb.

CHINESE WOODEN SPLINTS

INDICATIONS Some fractures of the upper limb.

CONTRAINDICATIONS (1) Open fractures. (2) Severe bruising. (3) Severe soft tissue swelling. (4) Signs of peripheral circulatory insufficiency. (5) Nerve injuries.

MATERIALS (1) Make thick cloth bandages 1.5 to 2 cm wide from two layers of calico or four layers of bandage sewn together. (2) Make paper or cotton wool pads. These must be absorbent and soft and elastic enough to mould easily to the shape of the limb. (3) Thin pliable strips of wood or bamboo.

Figure 70.10: CHINESE WOODEN SPLINTS. You can use splints made of strips of wood padded with paper and cloth for fractures of the humerus, radius, and ulna, and for extension fractures of the wrist. Kindly contributed by Cai Ru Bin.

METHOD Bandage the patient’s limb. Place four or five layers of pads outside the bandages and fix them there with strips of adhesive tape. Outside these place the wooden splints. Bind them in place with about four strips of cloth.

Take a check X–ray. Raise the limb and monitor its circulation carefully. If the fracture displaces or the paper pads shift, adjust them immediately.