Emergency treatment of fractures and dislocations

Musculoskeletal trauma is common in emergency medicine. Likely, patients are threatened by severe pain. Therefore analgesia, reduction, splinting and transport in a trauma center are simple and effective procedures, which have great impact on rehabilitation and quality of life. Most important in preclinical management of musculoskeletal injuries is the prevention of 2nd hits and further soft tissue damage. Severely injured or polytraumatized patients are threatened by hypovolemia coming along with shock. The ban of bleeding is the most important thing to do. After hemodynamic stabilization the patient has to be transferred in a trauma center. This article presents the basic terminology of traumatic injuries and classification of soft tissue damage and deals with all preclinically relevant procedures.