Stabilization and Immobilization

  Every now and then, one accidentally blasts one's skeletal tissue apart or sprains something. You'll totally have to immobilize that.



  The traditional method of bonesetting for a complete break is to use one hand to feel the point of connection, and the other to yank the limb forward and try to align the ends. It is not pleasant, and is much better done in a facility with imaging. Tungsten tends to lase in the x-ray spectrum, so if one has any scheelite (yellow to brown pseudooctrahedra streaking white, hardness 4.5-5) or hubernite (yellow, black or brown, prismatic crystalline habit, hardnes 4-4.5) or ferberite (bladed crystalline habit, black/dark brown, hardness 4-4.5), one can refine tungsten metal and use it as a target plate in a lepton accelerator for x-ray imaging on argentium chloride.

  Dislocated joints share a similar measure of "not fun" and "yank it until it falls in place," which can also do quite a lot of damage.   Most considerations, however, including less drastic cases, involve immobilization. A rag can make a triangle sling, suspending an arm from the back of the neck. A common stick can be set alongside the bone of an arm or leg prior to wrapping in gauze to make a splint for stabilization, and in fact strips of wood can be bent under heat or steam and pre-formed into splints for shins, forearms, and one- and two-finger splints. Fingers also have the benefit that one can use another finger as a splint.



  Calcium sulfate or aluminate, mud, or wheatpaste, can also be used to stiffen gauze to create a cast.

  For many simple sprains, however, simply using gauze as a compression bandage will be sufficient. Further study on the methods of treating breaks and sprains may be of interest to you.



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