Types of Splints

Video Transcript

"My name is Alv Rios I am a paramedic with Lansing Mercy Ambulance. I am here on behalf of Expert Village. In this clip we are going to go over the different types of splints. There are different splints for many different types of injuries. Any splint would work as long as it was rigid enough to hold support and if it was able to mold to the different injuries site. Such a magazine, a piece of folded up cardboard, wood or even a stick. There are commercial devices also such as this foam splint. This foam splint would be used for a leg. What's nice about it is that it is flexible, it is disposable because of the fact you could clean it. If needed you could reuse it but it's disposable for the fact if you ever wanted to cut it to trim it to size that is another option. The foam is rigid enough to hold support to the injury site. One thing you need to keep in mind when you use a commercial device such as a foam splint. It's important to realize that it's not going to conform perfectly to you so it's important to pad any voids which are spaces which may be between your body and the actual foam splint. This can then be tightened down with Velcro to hold the support needed. It's important to never tighten a strap over the fracture. This is an example of a foam splint which can be used for a arm injury which an elbow or lower arm and it can also be used for different shin, tibia or fibula fracture in your lower leg. This is an example of a padded splint. What a padded splint is, is a piece of wood down the middle of it and then it is wrapped with cloth or padding to give it a little more comfort that way it can be left on a injury site for long periods. It's then covered in a plastic that way it can be cleaned and sterilized if it were to get blood on it. This is just a normal sheet. A sheet can be used for multi-purposes one of it's biggest purposes is for a sling and most importantly for a head fracture. "