A closed midshaft femur fracture can be life threatening to a patient due to the amount of blood loss associated with femur fractures and the amount of pain patients experience when receiving one which is most due to trauma related occurrences. The use of a traction splint is acquired in the pre hospital setting in order to relief pain; provide comfort to the anatomic alignment and many more reasons that will later be discussed. (Watters, 2011). Traction splinting has been in the emergency medical services for more than a century after John Hilton invented this piece of equipment in the 1860’s. This splint was known or named the Thomas splint and was used to treat patients in world war one for the acute management of acute femoral fractures. (Bledsoe, 2004). What is a traction splint and the indications and contraindications for traction splinting in the pre hospital setting?
A traction splint applies counter-traction to the ischial tuberosity from below the femus shaft, which can cause movement of the bone ends in order to realign the patients closed midshaft femur fracture. According to Bledsoe (2004) “The traction device can be a commercial ractchet-typemechanism or a simple…show more content… The study conducted illustrates that the use of a traction splint in the pre-hospital setting which is not indicated or has contraindications can be detrimental to the patient. This in turn can result in the aggravation of existing injury as well as injury the patient. (Bledsoe, 2004). Therefore the use of a traction splint should be cautiously done as complications can arise when used for the wrong reasons when indications aren’t present and contraindications are