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Field expedient care that may enable mobility currently relies Ft. Sam Houston, Tx, the U.S. Army Medical Department, the
on improvising solutions using materials available to the res- U.S. Army Office of the Surgeon General, the Department of
cuer and leveraging principles from prosthetic/orthotic designs. the Air Force, the Department of the Army, the DoD, or the
In short, location of long and rigid items (e.g., branches, tent U.S. Government.
poles, ski poles, etc.) that can transfer energy from the ground,
around the splinted fracture site, and to proximal anatomy References
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Author Contributions 544–548.
WLC, JFA, TDE, SMG, DPN, SNP, and GES participated in 19. Flinn SD. On-field management of emergent and urgent extremity
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study design. WLC, TDE, SMG, DPN, SNP, GES, and JBW 20. Auerbach P, Donner, HJ, Weiss, EA. Field guide to wilderness medi-
participated in literature acquisition. All authors participated cine. 3rd ed. Mosby, Inc.; 2008.
in analysis of literature, manuscript drafting, and critical revi- 21. Irajpour A, Kaji NS, Nazari F, et al. A comparison between the effects
sion of this manuscript. All authors approved the final version of simple and traction splints on pain intensity in patients with femur
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Conflicts of Interest 23. Studer N, Grubbs S, Horn G, Danielson P. Evaluation of commer-
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. cially available traction splints for battlefield use. J Spec Oper Med.
2014;14(2):46–55.
24. Melamed E, Blumenfeld A, Kalmovich B, et al. Prehospital care of
Disclaimer orthopedic injuries. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2007;22(1):22–25.
This material is declared a work of the U.S. Government and 25. McSwain NE, NAEMT Staff. PHTLS Prehospital Trauma Life Sup-
is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Ap- port: Military version. 6th ed. Mosby/JEMS; 2007.
proved for public release; distribution is unlimited. The view(s) 26. Martin LKD, McBride LTJ, Unangst CA, Chisholm J. Prospective
expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not reflect study of military Special Operations medical personnel and lower
extremity fracture immobilization in an austere environment. Foot
the official policy or position of Brooke Army Medical Center, Ankle Orthop. 2020;5(2):2473011420916144.
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