Surviving Bone or Joint Injuries

First-aid kits are an integral piece to all survivalists’ toolsets. But what do you do when your first-aid kit can’t provide you with the necessities to help other ailments? If you are in a survival situation you can’t just pull over and make a stop off in the hospital. You and your team are essentially left to fend for yourselves and your knowledge and medical training will be the only things that get you through the situation. Let’s take a look at common injuries that can be sustained by survivalists and how to remedy them: bone and joint injuries.

Fractures

The dangers with fractures are that they can result in the compression or severing of a nerve or blood vessel where the bone is fractured. This is why they must be given special attention so that the injury is not aggravated further. There are two types of fractures: open and closed. An open fracture is when the bone breaks through the skin and produces an open wound. The closed fracture has no open wounds.

Manipulating fracture victims should be kept to a minimum and the patient should be immobilized and the fracture should be set and splint. To do this splint above and below the fracture site using branches and vines that secure the splint in place. Pad the splint to reduce discomfort and check the patient’s circulation below the fracture to make sure they aren’t losing blood flow.

Dislocations

A dislocation is the separation of the bone joints causing bone alignment issues. The joints must be placed back into alignment as quickly as possible so that further damage is not done and so that the victim can continue to be mobile. To set the bones back into proper alignment manual traction or the use of weights are the safest ways to achieve this goal. You can judge the proper alignment by looking at the opposite joint and trying to mimic its look and feel. After you set the joint through a process called reduction, you will need to immobilize it and then rehab it.  Immobilization requires splinting the joint after reduction as explained above. Rehab involves removal of the splint after 7-14 days. The patient is encouraged to delicately use the injured joint until fully healed.

Sprains

A sprain is the overstretching of a tendon or ligament. To treat sprains use RICE which stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.