Broken bones and torn ligaments are among the most common traumatic injuries seen at the veterinary clinic, and understanding how to quickly and efficiently splint an injured leg or tail can mean the difference between further injury and a quick recovery.
Why Use a Splint?
Splints serve to immobilize an injury site. In the case of a broken bone, this can prevent additional fractures from occurring. Sharp bone edges at a fracture site can easily sever surrounding structures, like blood vessels, tendons, ligaments and muscles, so minimizing movement lessens the chance of additional damage.
In the case of other injuries, such as a torn ligament, splinting can prevent a partial tear from becoming a complete tear, which is more painful and more difficult to repair.
Additionally, a limb that is dangling and moving in an irregular manner is going to be painful, so splinting will limit movement, and therefore help ease some of the pain.
When to Splint
“When in doubt, it’s better to take a couple minutes to splint an injury before going to the veterinarian’s office,” explained Dr. Michael Levine, DVM. “Immobilizing the limb for the period of the time it takes you to get to the emergency clinic is not likely to do any harm. There’s increased risks associated with wearing a splint long term – a full leg splint puts a patient at higher risk of hip and pelvic fractures. But in the short term, it’s much riskier to leave an injury without a splint because movement at a fracture site can result in an exponentially worse prognosis.”
Splinting can be beneficial in the case of a suspected fracture or other serious injury. Symptoms can include irregular “dangling” movement below the injury site, severe bruising and swelling, and pain to the extent that an animal is limping and non-weight bearing on a limb.
How to Splint
Before splinting, it’s important to understand that even the most docile, affectionate pet may lash out in an aggressive manner when he/she is experiencing serious pain. For this reason, muzzling is recommended. In the absence of a traditional muzzle, a strip of fabric or tape wrapped around the snout can impair a pet’s ability to nip. The exception is when there is difficulty breathing or other facial trauma involving the nose or snout; in these cases, a muzzle may impair breathing. In situations where a muzzle cannot be utilized, a towel placed over the face can help to avoid injury to the individual providing first aid.
An array of household objects can be utilized as splints. A newspaper or magazine can be wrapped around a section of leg or tail to prevent movement. A ruler or pen can serve as a splint for a medium or small animal, And a couple of wire coat hangers can be straightened, wound together, and bent to match the shape of a limb.
When splinting, it’s important not to re-align the injury site, as this can cause additional damage to nearby structures like muscles, tendons and ligaments. Re-aligning an injury can even prove deadly if a main artery is severed during the re-alignment.
Using rolled gauze, tape or strips of fabric, wrap both the splint and the injured limb or tail. The splint should extend well beyond the injury and in the case of a leg, the splint must extend one joint below and one joint above the injury site.
In the case of a toe or lower jaw, surrounding body parts can serve to splint an injury. In the case of an injured toe, wrap the entire foot, as the adjacent toes will limit movement. In the case of an injured lower jaw, wrap the entire head, as this will stabilize the injured lower mandible with the upper jaw.
In many cases, an animal who has suffered a broken bone or other serious injury may also have lacerations, gashes or cuts in the immediate area. If this is the case, bandage the area prior to splinting.
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