4-5. Splints, Padding, Bandages, Slings, and Swathes
- a. Splints. Splints may be improvised from such items as boards, poles, sticks, tree limbs, or cardboard. If nothing is available for a splint, the chest wall can be used to immobilize a fractured arm and the uninjured leg can be used to immobilize (to some extent) the fractured leg.
- b. Padding. Padding may be improvised from such items as a jacket, blanket, poncho, shelter half, or leafy vegetation.
- c. Bandages. Bandages may be improvised from belts, rifle slings, kerchiefs, or strips torn from clothing or blankets. Narrow materials such as wire or cord should not be used to secure a splint in place. The application of wire and/or narrow material to an extremity could cause tissue damage and a tourniquet effect.
- d. Slings. A sling is a bandage suspended from the neck to support an upper extremity. If a bandage is not available, a sling can be improvised by using the tail of a coat or shirt or pieces of cloth torn from such items as clothing and blankets. The triangular bandage is ideal for this purpose. Remember that the casualty’s hand should be higher than his elbow, and the fingers should be showing at all times. The sling should be applied so that the supporting pressure is on the uninjured side.
- e. Swathes. Swathes are any bands (pieces of cloth or load bearing equipment [LBE]) that are used to further immobilize a splinted fracture. Triangular and cravat bandages are often used and are called swathe bandages. The purpose of the swathe is to immobilize; therefore, the swathe bandage is placed above and/or below the fracture — not over it.