5. A strip of plaster.
The objects to be attained in treating this fracture are to press the lower fragment forwards and to draw (adduct) the hand towards the ulnar side of the limb. For this purpose a straight and a curved splint are used.
No bandage should be placed under the splints in treating any fracture of the shaft of the radius or ulna, lest the broken ends be pressed into the interosseous space.
Step 1. Prepare the splints. The straight splint should reach, when the arm is bent, to a right angle with the thumb upwards, from a little below the inner condyle to the lower end of the upper fragment or shaft; the curved or pistol splint extends from the outer condyle to the joint of the first and second phalanges. The width of both splints should slightly exceed that of the forearm. The bend of the lower end of the pistol splint should be abrupt, and directed towards the ulnar border opposite the wrist, where the margin of the splint should make an obtuse angle of about 1½ right angles (see fig. 28).
Fig. 28.—Pistol Splint for fracture of the Radius near the lower end.
Pads used with these and other wooden splints are made of layers of cotton wool, carded sheep’s wool, tow, or folds of old blanket. These materials should be stitched in old linen or calico, and covered outside with oiled silk where likely to be stained with the discharge from wounds.
The pads must be thicker below than above, to keep the splints parallel along the forearm; and that of the pistol splint is thickest opposite the carpus, to push the lower fragment forwards.
Fixed deformity opposite the wrist is usually present from impaction of the fragments; moderate extension may be employed to remove this, but forcible or continued efforts give great pain and do harm, by further straining the already wrenched ligaments. After these preparations the splints are applied.
Step 2. Put a very little cotton wool in the palm and across the root of the thumb, before the roller is begun, lest it chafe the carpus in front. The curved splint, with the barrel or longer part inclined downwards below the forearm, is next attached to the back of the hand by a roller carried in figures of 8 round the hand and root of the thumb, but not above the wrist (see fig. 29). This is made fast by a pin.