Principles
Traction splints are most commonly used for shaft fractures of the femur (or upper leg bone) and for fractures of the tibia and fibula. The femur is the longest bone in the body, the muscles surrounding the bone are also strong, when the bone is broken, the surrounding muscles often contract, pulling the bone ends past each other, causing additional injury and blood loss, pain, muscle, vascular and nerve damage.
Traction splints are applied only when the fracture is isolated to the femur and there are no other associated traumatic injuries to the leg or pelvis. Use of a traction splint while other fractures in the leg exist will cause the weaker fracture site to pull apart and not the targeted femur fracture.
Read more about this topic: Traction Splint
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