Interactive Ready for Review: Interactivities

or voluntary muscle, which attaches to bone and forms the major muscle mass of the body, is supplied with arteries, veins, and nerves. The 206 bones of the skeleton are living tissue that, when fractured, can bleed and cause severe pain.

Wherever two bones come into contact, a joint is formed, strengthened in key areas by ligaments. A is a broken bone; a is a disruption of a joint; a is a joint injury that involves partial or temporary dislocation of bone ends and partial stretching or tearing of ligaments; and a is a muscle pull.

Depending on the amount of kinetic energy absorbed by the tissues, the zone of injury may extend to a distant point, so you must always check for associated injuries beyond the obvious ones.

Fractures are open or closed, displaced or nondisplaced.

Signs of fracture and dislocation include pain, deformity, point tenderness, guarding, swelling, crepitus, and false motion.

Signs of sprain include and instability of the joint.

Your approach to patients with all painful, swollen, deformed extremities should include a rapid initial assessment, stabilization of vital functions and control of serious bleeding, focused physical exam of the injured body part, assessment of neurovascular function in the affected limb, splinting to immobilize the affected part, and prompt transport to the hospital.

For each limb, your should include pulse, sensation, and motor function. Repeat this exam every 5 to 10 minutes.

The principles of splinting include the following:

If you suspect a fracture of the shaft of any bone, make sure the splint immobilizes the joints above and below the fracture.

with injuries in and around a joint, make sure the splint immobilizes the bones above and below the injured joint.

Where fracture of a long bone shaft has resulted in severe deformity, use constant, gentle, manual traction (pull) to align the limb so that it can be splinted, unless this is too painful.

There are three types of splints: splints and splints, which require two people to apply, and splints, including air splints. In addition, slings and swathes are used to help support the weight of an injured upper extremity and immobilize the shoulder region, respectively.

Provide immediate transport to any patient if you are unable to restore a pulse to a pulseless limb by applying traction.
The only life-threatening musculoskeletal injuries are multiple fractures, fractures with arterial injuries, severe open fractures, limb amputations, and pelvic fractures with hemodynamic instability.