Episode Transcript
Announcer: "Health Hacks" with Dr. Troy Madsen on The Scope.
Dr. Madsen: Today's health hack is an easy to do, homemade splint. So all of us have cardboard boxes around the house. So let's say you have something where you fall or a child falls, you look at their arm, and it looks like it's broken. It's obviously deformed, it's swollen, they're having lots of pain. You want to get them in to get some x-rays and get this checked out. But every time they're moving that arm, it hurts.
So if you take a cardboard box, you break it down, do a couple layers the length of their arm, you can then put one piece of that cardboard box on each side of their arm, so you've got two pieces total. And then wrap it around with something that's not too tight, maybe just use like a shirt, a couple shirts to tie it around there. This can stabilize their arm and help them to feel a lot more comfortable while they get into the ER to get an x-ray.
So you're wondering, "Well, why cardboard?" Well, it's easy to use. And a lot of EMTs, so if you call an ambulance, a lot of them have cardboard splints. They're just using the same thing. It's really a great tool to have. The advantage of it is if this arm's moving around while they're in the car, they're just going to hurt a lot. There's potential that the fracture could move out of place even further. And again, it's something you probably have around. It's simple enough to do. You can grab it, quickly put this in place, get them in to get some treatment.
Announcer: For more health hacks, check out thescoperadio.com. Produced by University of Utah Health.