Be careful of breaking your bones and muscles. Temporary treatment for fractures, sprains and dislocations outdoors

A fracture will swell and ache immediately, whereas a sprain or dislocation will take a while to swell. If you accidentally sprain or fracture a bone during outdoor sports, you should perform the following temporary treatments to minimize the damage.

1. Stay calm. Improper first aid can cause serious harm. In the case of cervical spine fractures, improper first aid may damage the cervical spinal cord and cause high-level paraplegia, and in severe cases, lead to respiratory depression and endanger life. In the case of thoracolumbar spine fractures, improper handling may also damage the thoracolumbar spinal nerves and cause paralysis of the lower limbs.

2. Make the patient lie flat, raise the affected part above the heart, do not move the patient blindly, and do not pull or massage the injured part.

3. Check the injured area and cool the affected area. If there is a river nearby, you can use the river water to cool the affected area. In the mountains, you can use leftover snow to cool the affected area until it loses feeling.

4. Use local materials such as branches, wooden boards, sticks, etc. to fix the injured part.

5. When there is no object for fixation, the injured upper limb can be suspended and fixed to the chest with a handkerchief, cloth strip, etc., and the lower limb can be tied and fixed together with the other uninjured lower limb.

6. For open fractures (i.e., the skin or mucous membrane is broken and the bone is exposed at the fracture site), pay attention to keep the injured area clean to prevent infection.

7. After emergency treatment, send to hospital immediately for treatment. Pay attention to the correct handling method during transportation and avoid hitting the injured part.

8. When encountering a casualty who may have spinal injury, first help the casualty to straighten his lower limbs, and also straighten his upper limbs and place them at his side. Use wooden boards or door panels to transport the casualty, and do not use ordinary stretchers (soft). Place the wooden board next to the injured person, and have 2 to 3 people support the injured person's torso, rolling it as a whole and moving it onto the wooden board. Be careful not to twist the injured person's torso. It can also be lifted horizontally by three persons and moved onto a wooden board.

It is strictly forbidden to carry a person by hugging him/her or by one person lifting his/her shoulders while two others lift his/her legs, as this will increase the curvature of the spine and aggravate the damage to the vertebrae and spinal cord. If there is a casualty with cervical spine injury, someone should support his head and slightly pull it upward along the longitudinal axis to keep it in the same straight line with the torso. When the injured person is moved to the wooden board, sandbags or folded clothes should be placed on both sides of the neck to keep the head fixed.