Symptoms

• pain, point tenderness, deformity, swelling, discoloartions, exposed fracture, shock.

• cover the wound with clean, dry dressings, if there are open wounds, apply redwort and mosstea, if there are wide open wounds, stitch them closed
• use cold to minimize swelling
• if the patient has to be moved, use a splint to hold the limb in position

Three basic tools you need to immobilize broken bones are a stiff object, some padding and something to tie the stiff object and padding to the injured body part.

Why is a splint applied?  To prevent the injured body part from moving, which could cause extreme pain and make the injury worse.

General splinting guidelines:

• splint an injury in the position you found it
• always care for wounds before applying a splint
• the splint should extend well above and below the break
• don't tie a splint so tightly that it interferes with circulation, check for circulation after fastening and loosen knots if blood flow is being cut off.

To relieve pain and prevent shock, give strong analgesic.

Actual putting on of the cast:

• if necessary, set the limb - making sure the bones are in place
• wrap the area with soft sterile bandages
• make a paste of comfrey powder and water - there's a tub of it under the sink in the inf
• soak sterile bandage strips in comfrey paste and wrap about the soft bandages on the limb

This paste will harden into a plaster cast when it dries. Comfrey is sometimes known as knitbone. The comfrey helps the bones & surrounding tissue heal more quickly as well as being a plaster agent.