How to Use a Splint on a Lower Leg Fracture

How to Use a Splint on a Lower Leg Fracture
Hi, My name is Alv Rios and I'm a paramedic with Lansing Mercy Ambulance on behalf of Expert Village. In this clip we are going to go over if he were to have a fracture to his lower leg. The bones in there are called the tibia and fibula. We are going to make the assumption that he has some deformity and even an opened fracture where the bone has actually broken through the skin. First thing we want to do is expose the wound. We would do this either by if the clothing is loose to roll it back and if it is tight we actually would just cut it off. You then want to get again mobilize the limb. While my partner would be immobilizing I would come up and check for a pulse. Sir can you wiggle your toes? And can you tell me which toe I am touching? Big toe. Alright now what you want to do is have my partner while he is stabilizing to actually lift the leg slightly off of the ground trying to do as little movement as possible. While he is doing that I want to select an appropriate size splint. What I will use in this one is an actual lower leg splint. This is nice because it actually will mobilize the ankle and it will mobilize the knee. Which is what you need to do to the joint above and below. So when my partner would have the slightly elevated by holding it like this what I would do is come underneath the foot and slide it into spot. My partner could then lower the foot back into place again voiding spots such as right here below the ankle putting a little bit of padding under there. Right now I want it secured in place. I am going to avoid putting this strap over because I don't want it to go over the injury site. And these ones right here are just used to adjust the foot to keep it in place. Right now you have adequately splinted the leg. You could also consider putting some sterile dressings over the open bone fracture to keep it from getting infected.