Broken Bones, Sprains & Splinting
Falls, slips and struck-by incidents often cause broken bones and sprains. You can’t always tell a bad sprain from a fracture without an X-ray, so treat the injury as broken until a doctor says otherwise.
- All workers
Photo: first aider applying a padded splint to a forearm and wrapping it with a roller bandage
Signs of a fracture
- Pain, swelling and bruising
- The limb looks bent, shortened or out of place
- Can’t move it or put weight on it
- A snap or grinding felt or heard at the time of injury
- Bone showing through the skin (open fracture)
Call 911 if
- Bone is through the skin, or there’s heavy bleeding
- The thigh, hip, pelvis or several bones may be broken
- A head, neck or back injury is possible. See Neck & Spine Injuries
- The limb below the injury is cold, pale, blue or numb
- The person shows signs of shock. See Treating Shock
What to do
- Keep it still in the position you found it. Don’t try to straighten it.
- Control bleeding with pressure around, not on, any bone end, and cover open wounds with a clean dressing. See Bleeding Control.
- Splint only if you’re trained, help is far away, or the person must be moved. Pad the splint and support the joints above and below the break.
- Check circulation beyond the injury (warmth, color, feeling) before and after splinting. Loosen the splint if it gets worse.
- Apply cold: ice wrapped in a cloth, about 20 minutes at a time.
Sprains and strains
- Rest the injured part.
- Ice for about 20 minutes at a time, with a cloth between ice and skin.
- Compress with an elastic wrap, not too tight.
- Elevate above the heart if it doesn’t hurt.
- See a doctor if you can’t bear weight, the pain is severe, or it isn’t improving.
Report every injury, even a sprain. If it turns out to be a fracture, an early report protects your workers’ comp claim. See Filing a Workers’ Comp Claim.
Standards & references
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