Note splint extending from wrist to tip of finger; also manner of applying adhesive plaster strips and pad in palm.
If the finger corresponding to the broken bone in the back of the hand be pulled on forcibly, and the fragments be held between the thumb and forefinger of the other hand of the operator, pain and abnormal motion may be detected, and the ends of the broken bone pressed into place. A thin wooden splint, as a piece of cigar box, about an inch wide at base and tapering to the width of the finger should be applied to the palm of the hand extending from the wrist to a little beyond the finger tip, secured by strips of adhesive plaster, as in the cut, and covered by a bandage. The splint should be well padded, and an additional pad should be placed in the palm of the hand over the point of fracture. Three weeks are required for firm union, and the hand should not be used for a month.
It is usually easy to recognize a broken bone in a finger, unless the break is near a joint, when it may be mistaken for a dislocation. Pain, abnormal motion, and grating between the fragments are observed.
If there is deformity, it may be corrected by pulling on the injured finger with one hand, while with the other the fragments are pressed into line. A narrow, padded wooden or tin splint is applied, as in the cut (p. [102]), reaching from the middle of the palm to the finger tip. Any existing displacement of the broken bone can be relieved by using pressure with little pads of cotton held in place by narrow strips of adhesive plaster where it is needed to keep the bone in line. The splint may be removed in two weeks and a strip of adhesive plaster wound about the finger to support it for a week or two more.
In fracture of the thumb, the splint is applied along the back instead of on the palm side.
First Aid Rule.—Put patient flat on back in bed, with limb wedged between pillows till surgeon arrives.
Fig. 24.