Broken Bones

The best way to deal with a broke bone is to not break it in the first place. I know that this sounds like hindsight but the reality is that if you are jumping off of things, when you would be climbing down or doing other unnecessary activities that put your bones in danger you are most likely not going to fracture or break any of your bones.

I know that it’s not always avoidable and that’s why I’m writing this little guide for you. I just want let you all know that I am not a doctor. I’m not even close to being a doctor, that’s why I’m writing articles online for a living instead of saving peoples lives.

I do have multiple first aid training certificates though. It does not make me a medical professional by any means but it does give me a decent knowledge of how to deal with broken bones that I can share with all of you.

So the first thing that you want to do if you think you are dealing with a fractured bone is to remain calm. Panicking is only going to make the situation worse. The second is to survey the scene.

Doing a scene survey will let you be able to access any danger that is around and remove it before anyone else, including yourself can get hurt. This will also let you know where the casualty is injured if they are unable to tell you.

If the person who is injured has life threatening injuries, treat them first. Always check airways, breathing and circulation first. Those are the ABC’s of first aid. So now hopefully there is only a broken bone to deal with.

If the injured person is unconscious and unable to tell you where their injury is, you can do a rapid body check. You are going to be feeling gently around the body for obvious broken areas and any blood. You are going to be checking your hands for any blood that you find during the rapid body check, so if you have gloves, wear ’em.

You now want to steady and support the wounded area. Dress any wounds that you see to prevent infection and wait for help to arrive.

If you are in a situation that requires you to move the injured person, or treat the injury for proper recovery, this is where it gets a bit tricky. You are going to want to remove the clothing from the affected area so you can properly access the wound and what needs to be done to fix it. You also need to check the areas below the wound for circulation. If there is no circulation, you are going to have worse problems than just a broken bone.

Now, if the bone is protruding from the skin, you need to pull the limb and get that bone back inside. This is only to be done if there is absolutely no possibility of medical help coming. You then set the bone back into its proper place as best you can and immobilize the area.

You can immobilize the area by using a splint. If you have a good medical kit, it is going to have some things that you can use to splint the wound. If you do not have a good medical kit, there are many different options that you can use instead. You want to find something that is hard and straight. Anything that first this description will do. You can use an umbrella, a paddle, a good stick off of a tree and you can even use a gun if that is the only thing available. Just make sure that the broken bone is not going to move.

After enough time and if it is properly set, the bone is going to fuse back together and the injured person is hopefully going to be all right.

Doing any kind of medical treatment by yourself is only a last resort. Do this ONLY IF THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER OPTION. You should always seek medical attention from qualified professionals first.