It was back in 2018, and I was still working at the Sports Trauma Hospital in Guangzhou, China. That day, a young gentleman comes to the clinic with a martial arts injury. Physical examination/palpation of the limb and also an x-ray revealed a fractured ulna. Typically, in these types of situations, the standard of care at the hospital, required that the patient moves to the inpatient department for further evaluation, processing and to await surgery. During the surgery, the specialist would open a small incision, realign the bone and then secure it in place with pins or metal implants. However, this approach is not always necessary. In the not-so-distant past, for a simple fracture of the ulna with less than 50% displacement and less than 10% angulation, a simple cast and plenty of rest would be sufficient.
In any case, the patient outright refused surgery and casting. He simply asked that we use traditional bone-setting to realign the bone, and then secure it in place with wooden splints. He said that his martial school has traumatology tinctures and liniments that can be used during the healing process. These tinctures -which his school kept secret- can be administered through the gaps and the holes of the splints.
Well, this was quite the pre-modern medical challenge for the 21st century.
After a couple of phone calls, I discovered that the hospital stocked pine barks for splints, but they were gathering dust in storage for almost two decades. Pine bark is an excellent medium for splints because it is light, hard with some flexibility, and also has antibacterial and antiseptic properties due to the resins.
Since this was going to be more of a historical traumatology project, I also called an experienced retired colleague, Dr. Dong Yu-ming, whom I shared an office with at the administration building, to guide me on the secrets of medical carpentry.
Please pay attention to the gaps and the holes of the splints. It was believed that they allow the breathing of the skin. Through them the patient can also administer traumatology liniments that speed up the healing process.
We took a few photos for educational purposes, which I have since been using in my classes.
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