sent to A&E this evening.

Had to send someone with an anteriorly dislocated shoulder to A&E this evening.

All my attempts at any recognised triangular bandage techniques failed.

So I had to go for a mish mash of knot tied in the short corner and form a sleeve with the triangular bandage, jersey rolled up to hold the weight of the arm and a roll of bandage to try and immobilise the arm. Unorthodox and certainly not pretty, but hopefully effective and entertaining for the medics in A&E.

What first aid bodges have you done recently?

Many years ago made a mate a sling from an inner tube after he broke his collar bone, it’s all I had handy at the time.

Duct tape. 1.5m wound around a pencil. In the first aid kit.

I would guess, and it is a guess because I’ve not seen one, that an anteriorly dislocated shoulder would be extremely well splinted by the associated muscles and whatever you could do to aid comfort would be a win?

Crikey – pretty much. It’s the first anteriorly dislocated GHJ that I’ve seen. Horrible position to try and get an effective splint on and not one that I’d be tempted to try and reduce given that it was a first timer and no pain relief immediately accessible.

Apologies, I’m actually talking rubbish about not seeing one; I have reduced a few when I worked in theatre and we had weedy ortho registrars.

I was mixing up posterior and anterior dislocations; anterior ones are the most common by far.

But, well done for trying to sort it as best you could; I’d not have had much clue!

It appears that they are the most common in the general population, but I’ve only ever seen them go posterior or inferior. I’ve been asked to reduce a few repeat dislocations in the past, but wouldnt attempt a first time one out of hospital.

I enjoy that kind of problem.

Last time I took someone to A&E with a dislocated shoulder, they’d already ridden round 1/2 the black route at Glentress on their own with one shoulder down by their hip, as they did it on a cheeky second lap after doing one with the rest of us. He was an Elite rider though, so laps of Glentress one handed were nothing special…

Dislocated and fractured thumb taped up with electrical tape. Didn’t work.

Tired.. did the pencil pull through?

All first aid i carry out is a bodge.

When cycleactive ran outdoor first aid courses it was partly done* on the “what’s to hand” basis, so improvised innertube slings, pump splints, and buff bandages were very much encouraged. It’s first aid, not final solution.

Just wish they still offered it, am up for renewal next year and other hse approved courses are dull by comparison.

* obv covered the use of first aid kits too!

I’ve worked for the ambulance service for 10 years and still cant tie a decent sling! I did use the daily mail as a splint once though

A friend broke his collarbone on the ladder drop at tignes. Lifties wouldn’t let him take the lift back down so he had to walk & a makeshift sling was constructed from my gopro chesty harness.

Duct tape around a mate’s badly opened knee cap at Afan a few years back. Sling made from an inner tube in the Swiss alps. The Swiss ambulance drivers were impressed.

Taped my thigh together with the same gaffa tape id been cutting when missed and gashed my leg. it was good tape, christ almighty it was sore pulling it off again.

As a Cub Scout for a badge we were asked assemble a first aid kit from a list we were provided with and bring it along the next week. One of the things on the list was a 2p coin. I got my badge but for years, decades perhaps, I didn’t really fathom why the 2p was there, and later when I bought off the shelf first kits I sort of expected an assortment of copper disks in with the plasters and bandages.

I still have the faint notion hat non ferrous metal is therapeutic somehow.

A trail we rode in the pyrenees is now forever known as “the mankini” after the inner tube truss we strapped one of our number into after he dislocated his shoulder 🙂

MacC think the 2p coin was for the phone box.

BASP courses are great for “using what you have” first aid. Really threw me when I had to do tehprimary and secondary checks on the instructor with him acting like a real unconcious/semi lucid casualty.

When I left A+E with a broken collar bone, I had to teach my Wife how to put an elevation sling on me, cos the hospitals one fell off.