What to Avoid While Wearing a Splint: Critical Safety Guidelines
What should you avoid while wearing a splint?
The Quick Answer
**Never insert objects under the splint** to scratch—it breaks skin integrity causing infection and shifts padding leading to pressure sores. Avoid lotions/creams underneath (softens skin, increases blister risk), wearing while bathing (compromises padding), or over-tightening straps (causes vascular compromise). Remove immediately if numbness, tingling, or discoloration develops—signs of dangerous compression.
Why We Ask This
Patients endure significant discomfort from itching or pressure points under splints, resorting to dangerous improvisations like coat hangers or pens to scratch—unaware these actions create micro-abrasions that become entry points for infection in immobilized tissue with reduced circulation.
The Practical Science
Skin under splints experiences elevated moisture and pressure—scratching disrupts the stratum corneum barrier while displacing padding creates focal pressure points exceeding 32mmHg (capillary closing pressure), causing tissue ischemia within 2 hours and pressure ulcers within 24 hours.
In Clinical Practice
A patient experiencing itching under a wrist splint should remove the splint completely for skin inspection and cleaning rather than scratching through it—addressing the root cause (moisture buildup) with proper drying before reapplication versus creating infection-prone micro-tears.
References & Context
General Cast and Splint Care - Gillette Children's"Do not use anything to scratch under the cast or splint. Scratching might break the skin and cause an infection. It may also shift padding, leading to pressure sores, tourniquets, or a cast saw injury during removal."