We never know what a day may hold, but being prepared is very important. Knowing some basic first aid for a variety of situations and will help to give you informative and basic steps for treatment.  First aid care is essential for you to know, how you can handle any of the many situations that may come. Time is of the essence when it comes to helping someone or treating a situation or condition.

Basic first aid care requires instant movement and demands immediate attention from you. If you know what to do and how to do it in when you find yourself in a situation that requires your prompt assistance this can be vital to the person(s) you are helping.

We all face some type of emergency in our own lives, however, it is having the understanding of what to do in those situations that counts and is extremely necessary for survival. You never know what situation may arise, and it is always good to be prepared for the unknown. Therefore, you must be prepared with the basic knowledge of first aid.

We hope this site may provide you with some useful beginner’s information. Please note that the site is for informational purposes only and you should take a proper first aid course before applying any first aid treatment to another individual.

Compression fractures are fractures that involve the vertebrae. They happen most often when the vertebrae in the spine collapses from their full height to half their height. The most common cause of compression fractures is osteoporosis followed by a fall. Patients with osteoporosis suffer from decreased and weakened bone mass, making them susceptible to compression fractures sometimes even without a fall or other trauma. Osteoporosis sufferers may experience compression from merely lifting or bending. Another cause of compression fractures is cancer in the spine, although this is rarer. Athletes may develop compression fractures if they are active gymnasts, weight lifters or doing other strenuous activities. Besides osteoporosis, the other most common cause of compression fractures are patients that are involved in traumatic accidents such as bad car accidents.

The symptoms of compression fractions may vary depending on the cause. Compression fractures caused by weak and thin bones such as in osteoporosis patients may not experience much pain at all, or possibly none. If the vertebrae have collapsed, the patient may have a hunched appearance and pain if the back muscles are required to do a lot of work. Sometimes, the pain disappears in a week or two, but other times, they need to seek medical attention for the pain.

Compression fractures caused by trauma may produce a severe pain that may spread to the legs. If the vertebrae are severely damaged where bone fragments are pressing on the spinal cord, paralysis may occur. Damage to the spine may become very serious, if not permanent with an injury such as this. You often hear about or see situations like this in bad automobile accidents or other accidents involving severe blows or trauma.

Treatment for compression fractures may vary, although in most cases, they say the best treatment is to prevent what causes the problem. The treatment method is usually to give relief for the pain and try to prevent the same type of injuries from happening again. In the case of patients with osteoporosis, the best treatment to prevent further problems is calcium, medications and exercise. If the compression is becoming a problem with severe pain, a method of treatment called vertebroplasy may be done. This procedure involves rebuilding the bone to its normal height and injecting cement to stabilize it as well as to prevent further damage. Patients with compression fractures will usually heal in 8 to 12 weeks, providing the injury was not from severe trauma, in which case, it may take longer. Patients with compression fractures are like to have them again, which is why doctors will stress preventative therapy and treatment.

The clavicle bone is our collarbone and clavicle fractures are any broken bones in the clavicle. Clavicle fractures are responsible for 5% of hospital emergency visits for fractures. Children and infants are especially susceptible to clavicle fractures. In fact, some newborn babies are born with clavicle fractures after a difficult delivery and birth. In adults, clavicle fractures may bring on other complications such as development of a pneumothorax or paresthesias in the upper extremities.

Some of the symptoms that are characteristic of clavicle fractures are swelling, pain when trying to use the upper extremities and the patient reports falling on an upper extremity. If the clavicle fractures are severe, you may be able to feel through the skin after the swelling goes down. The patient may report either falling on one of the upper extremities or being hit with a heavy object in that area.

In order to give you the best possible treatment for your fracture, the physician will determine what type of clavicle fracture you have suffered.
Clavicle fractures are usually broken down into one of three different groups.

Group 1-clavicle fractures are when the fracture is in the middle of the bone. Approximately 80% of all clavicle fractures are fall in the group 1 category with both adults and children. The medial bone that is next to the sternum will pull itself upward due to the pressure from the sternocleidomastoid muscle, while, at the same time, the part of the bone that is toward the shoulder will go down toward the weight of the arm. Group 2-clavicle fractures are breaks that occur near the shoulder or the distal third of the bone. About 15% of all clavicle fractures are group 2. Group 3-clavicle fractures occur near the sternum or medially. Group 3-clavicle fractures are the least common, comprising on about 5% of the clavicle fractures.

Treatment of clavicle fractures will vary depending on the group the clavicle fracture falls into as well as the severity of each individual patient. In most cases, the treatment will be to support the entire arm with a sling and make sure it is rested. Rest, the use of a sling and pain medication is usually all that is needed for the clavicle to heal itself. The physician will probably order X-rays every few weeks to make sure it is healing as it should. Over 90% of clavicle fractures are able to heal without surgery. Surgery will be recommended if it is an open fracture or could possibly cause nerve or tissue damage. These situations are rare, however.

Many people aren’t aware that bone fractures are the same as broken bones. When they hear they have a fracture, they feel relieved, believing that they have “only a fracture, but not a broken bone”. Because of this mistaken belief, they don’t get the care and treatment that bone fractures need, prolonging the healing process and possibly causing more damage.

Bone fractures occur when a bone gets broken or cracked. There are different things that may cause bone fractures. Weakened bones from diseases such as osteoporosis or cancer may turn into bone fractures very easily. Some bone fractures happen because of stress such as you see with athletes, while others are caused by a sudden impact like a car accident. Anytime you have broken bones, you have bone fractures.

There are different symptoms that may indicate bone fractures. The most common symptoms of bone fractures are pain and swelling. Occasionally, the patient may have bruising if there is internal bleeding from the bone fracture. They patient may have difficulty putting pressure or any weight on the injured area. Although you may also experience this with a sprain, the pain with a bone fracture is much more severe. The patient may also have paralysis or numbness below or above the fracture.

There are many different kinds of bone fractures. The two most specific kinds are closed (simple) fractures or open (compound) fractures. Closed bone fractures are where the bone is broken, but the skin is still intact and not broken through. An open fracture is where the skin is broken, exposing the bone to air. An open fracture is more severed because the wound is very susceptible to infection. A fracture can also be either complete or greenstick. Complete fractures are when the break goes all the way through the bone whereas incomplete fractures have only a partial break. Children are most often the victims of greenstick fractures. As you’re probably aware, stress fractures occur over a period of time where the bone is overworked and worn down.

Treatment for bone fractures will vary depending on the type of fracture as well as the location of the fracture. Immobilization of the body part is usually the first treatment method. Minor bone fractures can usually be treated in the office of an orthopedic specialist or, possibly, a family physician. When the bone fractures are more severe, they must be treated in a hospital. The patient is usually fitted with a brace, cast or sling to aid in the healing. Stress fractures, however, will usually need rest and possibly anti-inflammatory medication and physical therapy. Surgery is often the recommended treatment if the bone fracture is an open fracture, is severe or if there appears to be damage to the tissue surrounding the injury.

For many years, people didn’t fully understand what fractures were. In fact, they often thought they were less serious than a broken bone, when they are actually one in the same. You would hear people make comments like, “well at least it’s only a fracture and nothing is broken.” Because of these mistaken beliefs, many fractures took twice as long to heal, as they should have because they were not given the proper treatment or taken seriously enough. 

Ankle fractions are often not taken seriously enough either. The ankle is the part of our leg that supports most of the weight of our body so any injury to the ankle should be taken seriously, specifically ankle fractures. An ankle fracture in either a complete or a partial break of the bone in the ankle. Ankle fractures can be less serious injuries like a small piece of bone being stripped or pulled or they may be serious where the fibula or tibia re shattered quite severely.

The most common cause of ankle fractures are the ankle being twisted or rolled either outward or inward. Both of these instances can cause instant and sometimes severe pain. Without proper medical attention, we have no way of knowing the severity of the break so we may be doing further damage to a very important part of the body. Many people mistake ankle sprains for ankle fractures, but they are very different and require different treatment as well as early treatment. Ankle sprains and ankle fractures can occur at the same time, which is why it is paramount that the patient seeks medical treatment as soon as possible.

Symptoms of ankle fractures can be just a few or many. Some of the more common symptoms are pain at the ankle or possibly right up to the knee, swelling on just the ankle or possibly the entire leg, bruising shortly after the injury, inability to walk or very difficult, difference of appearance from the uninjured ankle and a bone sticking out of the skin, which requires immediate attention.

It is very important to see a doctor as soon as you possibly can. However, if you can’t get to the hospital right away, there are a few things you can do to help. This method of home treatment is considered the R.I.C.E. method:

• Rest-It is important to stay off the ankle to prevent further damage
• Ice- Apply ice over a towel to the ankle to prevent or reduce the pain and swelling. Never apply the ice directly on your skin.
• Compression- Either wear a compression stocking or wrap it in an elastic bandage to prevent swelling.
• Elevation- Keep the entire foot elevated to prevent or reduce swelling.

Burn units in hospitals did not make their debut until sometime in the early 1970’s; before then there was no established protocol for the treatment for burns. If you were badly burned you were admitted to a hospital to be treated on a medical/surgical floor if the hospital was just a small county hospital. If you managed to live in a bigger city with a larger hospital you would have been admitted to the intensive care unit. There in the ICU or on a medical floor the doctors and nurses followed doctor’s orders and did the best they could to relieve the suffering of the victims.

In the 1950s lactated ringer’s solution was recognized to help prevent hypovolemic shock in burn patients. Lactated ringers solution is the most like the fluid in between the cells and the fluid that makes up blood plasma. This fluid contains proteins and electrolytes and is extracellular fluid that is necessary for the treatment for burns. Ringers lactate solution mimics that fluid. Lactated ringers solution is used rather than normal saline or dextrose solutions because neither of those IV fluids contains electrolytes. Burn patients are often glucose intolerant because they have abnormally high levels of adrenaline circulating in their blood. Elevated glucose in the blood stream makes the kidneys work harder to manufacture urine. Lactated ringers solution prevents the patient from dehydrating, where a 5 percent dextrose solution would dehydrate the patient. Normal saline would add chloride to the blood which could cause the patient to go into a state of acidosis, definitely not a desired treatment for burns. So much has been learned through the years through trial and error.

Techniques and philosophies have changed over the years so that treatment for burns left the patient with the least amount of scaring. The goal was to help the patient heal from the inside out; accepting the changes and getting on with life. At one time a burned patient might be left horribly scarred for the rest of his/her life. Treatment for burns involves not only the outside, but the body and mind. No one looks exactly the same after suffering severe burns; however, so much is being done to reduce scarring and improving mobility that the burned patient can begin to see the light at the end of the long tunnel. Recovering from burns takes a huge effort; the mind has to be in sync with the body to get the job done. A burn patient’s job is to work through the pain each day and night. The therapies are often very painful, but the outcome is definitely worth it.

Back in the days before hospitals had burn units, patients often died from the complications of their burns. Little was known about the treatment for burns; because treatment for burns  was a trial and error for a long time. The techniques that worked were adopted into normal protocol for burns, and the techniques that didn’t work were discarded. The study of burns has become a specialty over the years. It is truly amazing to see a patient recover from serious burns and go on to live a normal productive life.