From the first day of EMT school, most of us can’t wait to get our hands on the equipment. One of the more mysterious and impressive pieces of basic life support (BLS) equipment is the traction splint. Years later, you check for the trusty orange (or blue or green) traction splint bag as a part of your daily inspection. Everything’s in there ready to go. Or is it? When was the last time you took the bag out, opened it, and actually inspected the equipment? Is the ankle hitch there? How many leg straps are there? Most importantly, do you remember how to use the traction splint?
Splinting skeletal injuries is done when a patient pre-sents with a painful, swollen, deformed extremity, which is generally indicative of a bone fracture. There are two types of splinting: fixed (fixation) and traction. The goals of splinting are to stabilize the injury and prevent further injury from occurring. When applying a splint, regardless of the type or location on the body, you must ensure that the immobilizing device secures not only the fracture site but also the joints above and below the injury. Splinting is not a skill we use often. Many EMS instructors view splinting as one of the most perishable BLS skills, and providers have referred to splinting as a “lost art.”1 No splint is as challenging as the traction splint.
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