Plaster splints: techniques and indications

Various plaster splints can be used in the management of many acute musculoskeletal injuries seen in the emergency setting. These include gutter splints of thumb, radial and ulnar types; volar forearm, sugar-tong and posterior elbow splints, and knee, short leg and stirrup splints. When properly made, these devices afford symptomatic relief, mechanical support and sometimes even definitive therapy for fractures and soft tissue injuries of the extremities.