Fractures of the wrist or forearm are one of the most common diagnoses we make in the emergency department. The ability to put on a good plaster or brace is an essential skill. Sometimes what we put on resembles something carved out of a log of wood, certainly mine did. However my techniques has improved over the years, as I teach you in the Procedures Workshop, it is easy to put on a plaster or a simple thumb spica.
The indications for a thumb spica include:
1 Scaphoid injuries(the major one) and
2 First Metacarpal Injuries. There are more, but these are probably the most important.
We recently held a workshop at Monash for plastering and here is part one, “How to put on a thumb spica”.
How to put on a plaster will follow.
