A system of surgery . gments in position. There are a few-preliminaries of general importance to be attended to. For afracture of the pelvis or thigh the bed should be prepared by placingfracture-boards across beneath the mattress to prevent it fromsinking under the weight of the pelvis. Clothes must be removedfrom the injured part with all gentleness, seams being cut up, bootsbeing fully unlaced and drawn off whilst the lower part of the limbis most thoroughly steadied, etc. Till a fracture has been examinedit should be assumed to be all but compound. The limb shouldnext be well washed with f
A system of surgery . gments in position. There are a few-preliminaries of general importance to be attended to. For afracture of the pelvis or thigh the bed should be prepared by placingfracture-boards across beneath the mattress to prevent it fromsinking under the weight of the pelvis. Clothes must be removedfrom the injured part with all gentleness, seams being cut up, bootsbeing fully unlaced and drawn off whilst the lower part of the limbis most thoroughly steadied, etc. Till a fracture has been examinedit should be assumed to be all but compound. The limb shouldnext be well washed with flannel, soap, and hot water; if hairy,shaving will mitigate itching, and a wash with 1 to 1000 perchlorideof mercury lotion will help in the same direction, by checkingdecomposition of sweat. Everything being in readiness for theapplication of retentive apparatus, the fracture should now be set.(1) Tlie setting of a fracture means the removal, so far asis possible, of deformity due to displacement of the fragments. It. Fig. 225.—Wyetlis Universal Trellis Splint. It is the type of many easilyextemporised splints. should follow immediately on the complete examination, that thenecessary pain may be got over in one bout. It is a principlein the setting and treatment of fractures that force should notbe used to overcome resistance which may be conquered by art— by the relaxation of parts. Let us take, for example, the ordinary oblique fracture of bothbones of the leg, with displacement upwards and backwards of thelower fragments, maintained by the great calf muscles, which con-tract directly an attempt—probably painful—is made to reduce thedeformity. Here, with the patient on his back, the hip and kneeshould be flexed to 90° by an assistant grasping the thigh just abovethe knee, so that his thumbs press firmly on the quadriceps hands should form a fixed point of counter-extension. Anotherassistant, grasping the foot, has raised it and the lower fragmentcorres
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