A vacuum splint is a device like a small

vacuum mattress A vacuum mattress, or vacmat, is a medical device used for the immobilisation of patients, especially in case of a vertebra, pelvis or limb trauma (especially for femur trauma). It is also used for manual transportation of patients for short dist ...

that is used in

emergency medicine Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuously learn to care for unsche ...

as a temporary splint. Vacuum splints operate by extracting air from the splint itself to enable the thousands of polystyrene balls inside the splint to mold around the injured body part similar to an

orthopedic cast An orthopedic cast, or simply cast, is a shell, frequently made from plaster or fiberglass, that encases a limb (or, in some cases, large portions of the body) to stabilize and hold anatomical structures—most often a broken bone (or bones), in ...

. Vacuum splints are primarily used by paramedics to splint

trauma Trauma most often refers to: * Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source * Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event *Traumatic i ...

-related injuries,

joint dislocation A joint dislocation, also called luxation, occurs when there is an abnormal separation in the joint, where two or more bones meet.Dislocations. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Retrieved 3 March 2013 A partial dislocation is refer ...

subluxation A subluxation is an incomplete or partial dislocation of a joint or organ. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a subluxation is a "significant structural displacement", and is therefore always visible on static imaging studies, suc ...

, and extremity

fractures Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...

. Advantages of the vacuum splint include the ability to provide support whilst relieving pressure at the injury site and the ability to conform to any shape. The limb may also be

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

ed with the splint on.

References

Emergency medical equipment {{Treatment-stub