Page 147 - ASOP ROT Study Guide

FIGURE. A DIRECT FALL
CAUSING A FRACTURE.

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FIGURE. A FRACTURE CAUSED BY A
TWISTING OR INDIRECT FORCE.

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The following questions about the injury must be answered:
♦ What happened?
Fractures at a particular site can look the same. The appearance of a fracture on a radiograph may
not give much of a clue to the severity of an injury. There is a world of difference, however,
between gaining a fracture from slipping off a step and from being hit by a car. In these two
extreme examples the first involves little energy transfer to the affected part of the body and the
second usually involves quite a lot. The amount of energy transferred to the body in an accident
determines not only the injury to the bone, but also the soft tissue damage and the extent to which
the blood supply is disrupted. Therefore it is important to find out what happened from the victim,
any witnesses available and members of the ambulance and rescue services.
♦ How did it happen?
Finding out how the accident happened can also help because injuries tend not to occur randomly,
but in some sort of pattern. For example, a pedestrian hit by a car tends to receive leg injuries
from the bumper, pelvic and abdominal injuries from the bonnet and head injuries from the door