Splints and other first aid in the wild

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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Moving downed cherry trees in the snow/ice/mud/slush yesterday, my father fell and almost broke his leg. Getting him from his garden, to the house, was an adventure in and of itself. My little brother and I were practically dragging him along, uphill. I am over 350LBs, my little brother looks like an MMA fighter, but is 195lbs. My father is about 230lbs but almost 60. Three big guys, slipping and sliding. We finally got him to the hill in front of the house, and put him on a sled, and got him to the front door. In the interim, while getting him down the hill, I went for a barrell roll, and landed on my knee, with a loud crunch. Like my pop, it hurts like hell, but I can still get around. He's not okay, but it isn't broken. Just don't touch it.

Got me to thinking. The distance from the garden to the front door, combined, was about 150yards. Most of it was snow, mud, ice and slush. We all had work boots on, no spikes etc. I'm glad I did not have a blade on my belt, like I usually do at home. My father has always talked about a hunting trip to the Rockies that the three of us would take. However, we're definitely out of shape. He figures an elk hunt in northern PA would be our best bet, after we get in shape.

This incident was not the end of the world, he's okay, and is going to follow up on it. We want to get back to camping, fishing and hunting the local (MD/DE/PA/WV/VA as law permits) areas. After Sunday, I feel that having the knowledge of how to build a splint is a must have. My father has basic woods knowledge, he spent most of his early years into his mid 30's in the woods. My little brother and I need to build up some knowledge.

Does anyone have any ideas? Thank God this happened at home, and turned out to not be as bad as it could have.
 
If you are 150 yards away and your father in no immediate danger, then you could have run into the house for first aid equipt. I keep several splints and ace bandages handy in mine, but you could improvise using branches, boards and either ace bandages, tape or ripped clothing strips to isolate the injured limb.

If it is back or neck, you can isolate the neck using tightly rolled towels and boards for the back until help arrives.

Go online for any number useful outdoor first aid books that you can buy. They can also suggest how to build outdoor first aid kits. If you do get any books, I would suggest that you at least skim them beforehand, rather than desperately looking-up chapters after an emergency has happened.
 
my advice would be to do a first aid course, so you know all the basics of dressing wounds, using splints etc and dealing with basic truama injuries. once you have the basic skills then when your in the wild you can improvise gear etc if you have to
 
A stick or two is all you need to make a splint . Crutches should be doable. A couple of stout ,forked saplings i think would work. I ll try making crutches next time out.
 
Its probably more than what you want to get into this but i would suggest taking a basic EMT class. They generally teach you how to use cravats rather than frac packs to splint and imobilise traumatic injuries. and three big bandanas do not weigh much to throw in a woods bummin bag. If you want an e-book here you go http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/fm4_25x11.pdf Good luck to you and your father i wish you a speedy recovery.
 
I'm new here but feel I'm in my lane on this subject. I'd recommend a Wilderness First Aid course at a minimum and would probably go for Wilderness First Responder for anyone who is going to spend time on the woods away from immediate (less than one hour) help. The difference in wilderness first aid vs what we call front country first aid classes are you should get the improvisation skills from the wilderness class. Any training is better than none and even a basic Red Cross FA class will cover a basic forearm splint. But knowing how to correctly splint and the reasons for doing them will allow you to make do with what you happen to have nearby.

All this also depends on the instructor.

Schools - WMI, WMA or SOLO. I'm a big SOLO fan as I did my WFR & WEMT through them but have heard nothing but good about the other two. Red Cross's Wilderness and Rural First Aid is also a very good course, they restructured it last year and I think they did a great job with that course.
 
a contributor to this area gave great tips on immediate 1st aid recently. i believe his name was "Mercop". as long as breathing is o.k. the most pressing thing is stop the bleeding . a recent pic i posted shows a companion with my makeship bandage on his arm. we were 1.5 miles from the road & w/o the gauze & tape i always pack,his blood lose would have been much greater. he had severed a major tendon & some nerves but after last weeks surgery the prognosis looks good. gauze & tape hardly weigh anything & although i'm 72 the only other mishap in my extensive hunting & fishing life was the b.b. still embedded in my upper face muscles. ---dennis
 
Good to hear nothing life-threatening happened.

Just some thoughts.

1. Knowledge. As has been noted, knowledge on what and how to do is still best. Another nod for basic First Aid.

2. Gear selection. True, one can improvise a splint from materials at hand, but realistically at times given the conditions or setting, this might be extremely difficult (your particular case for instance). My old colleagues during an emergency medicine summit helped launch the SAM (Structural Aluminum Malleable) splint from SAM Medical here in my country a couple of years back. It really is a fine and very handy/portable product to have at the ready.

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3. Access/call for medical attention and support. As proximity/remoteness from the nearest hospital/clinic can't be helped, at the very least, securing the means to getting there (i.e. - vehicle at the ready) or having the ability to call for help (i.e. - a cell phone with good signal service) should be considered the overall emergency planning.
 
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I'll give a +1 to the sam splint idea, there light and reusable to a degree, you can fold them flat or roll them for storage. A very versitile piece of kit.
 
For a short distance you are better off not moving someone with a broken leg. Depending on the severity of the break it could cause more damage, possibly life threatening.

Deep in the wilderness with no communications, then you want a splint. If you can find it, some pliable thick bark will work best or something that can be wrapped around the leg and be fairly rigid. Followed by hiking sticks. If not multiple straight branches are the best in the wilderness. Tied with something preferably that can lay flat. Best would be wide belts, followed by towels or bandanas. Rope or twine will work but tends to shift around. Whatever you can do to immobilize the leg as best as you can.

Try going to a local First Aid class from the Red Cross, or for free try your local Scout Troop.
 
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As posted, SAM splints are pretty much the standard if you are working off a truck or want to carry lots of first aid gear instead of other stuff when in the woods. I have one in the house kit but don't carry one in the woods.

Splinting is not rocket science. The break is going to be on an arm or leg. You need at least two supports, sticks work (three is better) that are long enough to keep the joint or break from articulating. Put the the supports around the limb, using a strips of clothing (not paracord or anything that would cut off circulation) start tying. The first one should go over the break, then one above and one below. You finish them with square knots.

Remember your triage. Bleeds before breaks, if they have a bad bleed you need to deal with it first. If the break is visible it is best to treat in place (if safe to do so). Moving them could result in the bone cutting the Brachiel artery in the leg, or the Femoral artery in the leg. This could prove fatal.

Here is the article that was mentioned. I don't even cover breaks in TIMS because it will not kill you in the first five minutes. It is really all about blood and air, blood and air. Vascular injuries can be scary to deal with, especially with children. - George
 
vaspence said:
I'm new here but feel I'm in my lane on this subject. I'd recommend a Wilderness First Aid course at a minimum and would probably go for Wilderness First Responder for anyone who is going to spend time on the woods away from immediate (less than one hour) help. The difference in wilderness first aid vs what we call front country first aid classes are you should get the improvisation skills from the wilderness class. Any training is better than none and even a basic Red Cross FA class will cover a basic forearm splint. But knowing how to correctly splint and the reasons for doing them will allow you to make do with what you happen to have nearby.

All this also depends on the instructor.

Schools - WMI, WMA or SOLO. I'm a big SOLO fan as I did my WFR & WEMT through them but have heard nothing but good about the other two. Red Cross's Wilderness and Rural First Aid is also a very good course, they restructured it last year and I think they did a great job with that course.
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This is the way to go. There have been different responses on in this thread, some good, and some not so good. What you really need is actual hands on training from actual people who specialize in wilderness medicine. My EMT class taught me how to prep someone for the hospital when you have a world of resources. My Wilderness EMT taught me how to get someone out of the wilderness with the items I had with me. At the least I would suggest the wilderness first aid course, but the wilderness first responder course would be better.
 
+1 on the Wilderness First Responder course. You could take an EMT course, but it's time consuming and they don't go very far into improvised splinting because you have just about anything you could want on the bus. The WFR course is meant for what you're looking for...the wilderness. It has a heavy emphasis on improvisation and during all of your hands on scenarios I believe we only had a triangular bandage, compression bandage and tape. Everything else you improvise. There's also a strong emphasis on how to extricate people from sticky outdoor situations. Expensive but well worth it.

SAM splints are nice and I keep them in my car and home, but unless I was on an expedition when I was mountain guiding, I never take one with me in the backcountry. They're very convenient and the ER docs love them because you can x-ray right through them without having to take off the splint. Realistically though, you can easily improvise anything a SAM can do.

I'm a big fan of roller gauze, compression bandages (or a SWAT-T that can also work as an effective tourniquet) and duct tape. Although I do carry much more than that, you can improvise just about anything you need with those items.
 
Way back when i took my EMT-B course they actually did cover using what you had and improvising in the class and left most of the frac pak stuff and such to be taught near the end of the course. It might just depend on where you live and who teaches that class and such. I took mine in northern Maine.
 
Start with a basic Wilderness first aid or first responder course such as thru NOLS-WMI. Even the two day basic will give you hands on practice on everything you described including extraction and use of litters. I have a SF collapse-able litter used by SF medics which is lightweight, small and packable. I keep it in with my med kit. Might consider getting one for future med emergencies in remote areas.
 
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