Broken Limbs

I see many preppers think that they can go at the apocalypse on their own but can you really?

In June I broke my ankle. As I lay there on the ground I realized my mistake, knew I had broke something and realized that if I was in the zombie apocalypse, I would have been zombie bait. I am blessed that I could receive medical attention but those first days were real eye-opening. Just trying to bring a cup of coffee to the table was a chore. Walking the dog didn't happen for a week+. Getting into my Jeep took some practice plus driving with a boot was not easy. Since I spent a month in a walking boot, I lost a month of collecting kindling and firewood.

Once healed, I was thinking that it may have been easier had I broke an arm. I spent a few days trying to do thing single handed. I even put a sling on and tried to open a can with a manual can opener. It can be done but expect spillage. Folks with one limb can do these things but they have had practice. And if it is your dominate limb that has broke, things will be more difficult.

Lessons learned: have someone you can trust to help. Have medical supplies that can help with bad sprains and such. And don't do dumb stuff.

 

Having broke a lot of bones I get you. Had a girl friend that broke both arms. She figgered out how to wipe. I still can't wipe on one side after a motorcycle accident. I guess I could learn.

She was riding a Harley.

 

I understand completely MM34,,, I broke my ankle almost 2 years ago ,,, laid up for 4 days waiting on it to get better before I decided to go to the doctor.. they gave me a boot and scheduled surgery about a month later. They had to put a screw in it ,, so I don't know if we were in that apocalypse,, how it would have healed up . I hope you're getting better.
As far as doing dumb stuff ,, not sure I can stop that ,, been doing that to long to stop cold Turkey now .

 

Broken bones will heal on their own, it's the outcome that you may not want, but the outcome you get!
In a true TEOTWAWKI state, the best you can do is have someone who knows how to set things old school, with out x-rays and scans and surgical interventions, your gonna need lots of luck and to take your time ( trying) healing!

Worst will be the compound fractures ( Don't know why they call them that, stupid) and those will likely require amputation, as intervention will be extremely limited and the risks of infection goes way up, to the point that it's likely a better option now then later, where more would likely have to be removed! Realities suck, but that's life as we know it, soon enough!

 

I am fine now but it really did make me think about things and how to's. Had it been winter, I would have had to bring in firewood. I figured I could have used a large bag and some rope then hauled a few stick in at a time.

 

Until fairly recently a broken joint, elbow, knee, shoulder, and such most likely would cripple you for life and a compound fracture would lead to death or amputation. An infected tooth could well kill you, any skin break could result in an infection that could kill you, childbirth often lead to infections that killed you, insect bites could lead to infections and diseases that were fatal, animal bites were often fatal, etc. That doesn't even get into infectious diseases, food poison, nutritional problems, and such.

 

As a life long hiker/climber/Mountaineer/alpine skier/sno-boarder, parachutist, and general badass, I have always worn climbing boots, had to, as there was no other type of foot wear that could provide the needed support and bad assery I needed every single day of my adult life the last 33 years! The down side to all this is that I cannot wear anything else on my feet, they have been molded to climbing boots and everything else is very uncomfortable to down right painful! The doctors have told me I ether have surgery, Or I live in boots the rest of my life!

As far as broken bones and such, I took a couple rounds of shrapnel from a 23 mm anti aircraft gun, mostly to my legs/buttocks, and lower back, my left leg was pretty much destroyed by two large fragments below the knee and my right leg took a marble sized chunk to the back of the calf and heel of my foot, through the boot, as well as several smaller chunks to my ass and lower back, I looked like I got hit with a shot gun blast! After many surgeries to my left leg and a few to my right, I was able to keep both, but I have had constant issues with proper blood flow in my left leg, to the point that I have almost had to have it amputated a few time's! I have undergone several transplants/grafts where they take blood vessels from various parts of my body and switch them out to my left leg, and so far so good! If this had happened during a total system failure where there was no medical beyond what I my self am trained for, I would have lost both legs below the knee, and then had to deal with home made prosthetics as best as I could!

Needless to say, my days of being a badass are long over with, I cannot run, cannot jump, or do much climbing anymore, and forget jumping out of airplanes ever again, I'm lucky I can walk at all, and might be able to sprint a little if it was an emergency, but that's about it! Take care of your selves out there, weather good times or bad, these bodies we got are all were ever going too get, and once they start breaking, things can go down hill really fast!

Knew a guy that broke his leg during the early fighting in Sarajevo, wasn't able to get any care beyond a few locals trying to set it and splint it as best they could, he got gangrene in the leg and it spread, to the point that there was no saving him, and he died a few weeks later! These are the realities, and if things go sideways, it's going to get pretty common!

 

There are times when smaller bones can't be set at all. Mine were broken like dry chicken bones, when the foot was folded in half. I ended up with what looked like bony knuckles sticking out the top of my foot after it healed. The calcium deposits continued to grow and pinch the nerves further every time I'd step on something wrong. It took 20 years to get the surgery to fillet the foot, reshape the bones and eliminate the nerve pain that had left me with a permanently numb foot. I was told by my excellent Canadian surgeon that it would likely need to be repeated every ten years, but happily I'm past twenty with no more complications.

Lesson learned: Always watch where you step.

 

I've experienced a few fractures that were never really treated and healed quite well. Never had a compound fracture anywhere except for my head. I suppose even a compound fracture could be reset and splinted would eventually heal. Might not work as well or even the same as before the injury, but the human body is a pretty amazing thing. Problems we have now are mostly related to messing around with god's recipe: DNA..

 

Amen.

 

I have supplies for cast and a daughter who is a NP. If she is not there someone else will have to read up and just do the best they can while I pray. Casting supplies are cheap.

 

Problem with Compounds AKA Open Breaks is not the break it is the infection that will almost always follow. Pretty much a death sentence in a survival situation or out of reach of modern medicine. Even a amputation in less than sterile conditions often ended in a very painful death. When they clean and sanitize the protruding bone and tissue around and down into it....... Just not pleasant.

 

This thread got me thinking about different scenarios on a SHTF situation. I have farted around shooting from my weak side. And I suck at it. Recently I mashed my index finger and thumb in a door. I have two black nails. The index finger took the worst. No way I can shoot with that hand soon. Accurately anyway. So I'm going to adjust my range time to practice with my weak side. Lord only knows how bad a shooter I am if my dominate eye gets wacked.

 

After having my strong side shoulder rewired, 7 weeks in a hard sling, I started single hand weak side shooting. Ruger .22 initially, and worked up to my normal carry weapons. I maintain the practice to this day. Routine is holster to Weaver or isosceles, weak side single. This is cross drawing from normal holster position., then over to strong side holster to single hand.

 

I am told that during the civil war amputations were covered by a plate of silver which added in the healing.
I am 70 and have had no broken bones in my life or serious sprains, but I have dealt with them on others.
I have set greenstick fractures and put them in cast successfully.
A friend gave me guidance and the materials to do it.
There are plenty of emergency medical guides to perform these tasks if you are willing to learn and invest in the process.
I am reminded of the movie, The Day After Tomorrow, in the library treating the girl with the infected leg. No doctor was present but they had books. Obviously, it is best to get training but when that is not possible then you do what is next best, get the books and study.
Even if you haven't the skills, having the materials is helpful if in the event there is some one that is actually skilled come along.
Having the books can give one heads up on the materials required for such n event, and or several of them.
I plan to dedicate a room in my house for medical emergencies.

 

We do not have casting supplies to make a cast but we now have a large and medium size walking boot. Plus crutches. Since my son had shoulder issues, we have slings.

 

All three of my severe fractures happened during brief times when I had no medical coverage, so was forced to treat them myself. The worst of them was an ankle when I stepped in a hole during a hike along the Oregon coast. Fortunately I was less than a mile in, and with a convenient branch for support was able to hobble back to mar car and drive home. I can't tell you how painful it was three ours later when I took my frrst step out of the car three hours later. It literally felt like I was on fire!

Because I used to have frequent ankle sprains so I was well versed in a technique shared with us by our family Doctor. After a quick shave of my lower leg I applied the weave I had used many times for ankle sprains. I haven't found an illustration or video that shows it, but it;s all done with 1/2" athletic taps. Basically point your toes slightly, then working from back to front and top to bottom apply a vertical strip that goes under your foot followed by a horizontal strip that hoes behind the heal. This effectively produces a cast that supports from side to side with a joint from the weave that allows limited front to back motion. The main thing is the the "weave" portion where the strips pass each other cross the ankle.

Even though I didn't have insurance I did have a job and had to work the next day. Those days I did labor that kept me on my feet the entire time. Never missed a day of work, and so long as I was on my feet it was tolerable. After work, when I drove home or later a chance to sit it was incredible painful when I first got back up for several minutes then would go away until the next time I got off my feet. It did eventually heal just fine, but I had to rely on the wrap for several weeks, occasionally changing the tape. If I can find a picture or video I will post them - I've never seen it elsewhere though have taught several others. I've also used a slimmed down version as sprain prevention when backpacking, especially with heavy loads, or strenuous hikes that were cross country.

The other severe one came just before I had to drive coast to coast from Oregon to the Florida panhandle not far south of Tampa. This time between jobs and was planning to try a career change to real estate along with my then girlfriend. I was visiting my folks just prior and running around with some of my buddies. One of them had a truch with a dumbass high lift, that pretty much required a step. I was getting in when the step, which was a casting that had a flaw broke. I was almost all the way up and when I fell I landed on my shin on tue edge of the floor sill. Hurt like hell, but didn't realize I had nearly broke it until the next day. Yup, felt like I was on fire again.

I left the next day for Florida, which took three incredibly long days. Along the way the radiator in my jeep began to fail. We couldn't stop because my then girlfriend informed me when i picked her up in Twin Falls that the birth of her first grandkid was imminent. I drove the next 2,000 plus miles from that point in southern Utah to Bradenton, Florida with the heater cranked, HOT air blowing on my fractured leg, one eye on the radiator temp and the other eye on the road. The only distraction was my girlfriend stressing out over the need to get there before the baby. Naturally we missed by a couple hours, but that's a different story.

The fracture, which I found out later was a near break, healed naturally but I still have a "dent: where I hit the floorboard. The doctor who finally got a good look at it years later looking for something else initially thought it was a break.

I guess the point it that 1) it always happens at the worst time and 2) sometimes a break or a severe fracture can heal on it's own

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057FDLDG/?tag=survivalmonke-20

 

Great link above, but I prefer the fibre wrap myself.