Rolling should be practiced with both hands together, and with either separately, and it should be done quickly, elegantly and without causing discomfort to the patient.
Sometimes the turns were to be made to the right, and sometimes to the left, and sometimes a double headed bandage was to be used and applied crosswise. After the bandage was on, it was to be finished off by stitching with a needle and thread, lest a knot should cause discomfort.
All the methods of applying the roller bandage which we now employ, together with many other complicated methods, are described by the ancients, and will be found described and figured in the works of Oribasius in the edition of Stephanus (Medicae Artis Principes) and also in Scultetus.
Pads (or “Compresses”). These were made of linen folded three or four times. They were three or four fingers in breadth, and their length was proportionate to the part.
They were applied longitudinally in such number as to encircle the limb.
In applying splints extra pads were put on parts where the bone projected, as at the ankle.
Splints. Hippocrates says these should be smooth, even, rounded at the ends, and concave. They should be secured with strings. Those at parts where bone was prominent should be short so as not to press on the part.
Fig. 4. Applying the waxed compresses over the bandages. After Scultetus, but Hippocrates says the compresses ought to completely surround the limb and not be separated from each other by a space as this figure shows. It makes the pads look like splints.