top of page
Writer's picturefoamfrat

Can you really use a Slishman traction splint on a patient with both a femur fracture and a pelvic fracture?


I recently saw some inquiries on social media asking for more information on the claims that the Slishman traction splint can be used on a patient who has both a femur and pelvic fracture. This conversation also came up on shift a few days ago, so I reached out to the inventor, Dr. Sam Slishman, and asked if he could write a short article on the thought process and physics behind this claim.


From Dr. Slishman


"I wish I could offer articles in support of this claim as well. But it’s a tough thing to prove, yeah or nay. The claim is just based on many years of applying traction splints and knowing some of the early traction splint evolution history, too.


The reason we fret over the use of Hare traction splints for proximal femur fractures is because of the crossbar acts like a fulcrum. That was a problem the Sager tried to remedy. Has Hare splints caused that much harm because of that problem? Meh… Beyond discomfort, it would be tough to prove.


People fret over Sager applying pressure to the pelvis. Has Sager caused a lot of harm that way? Meh again. Even the claim that traction splints turn spheres into lower-volume cylinders is hard to prove. Is it the splinting that helps limit clot disruption or the traction that makes it harder to bleed out into a thigh? It's hard to say. 


The thing is, femoral traction doesn’t require much force and is fairly short-duration. It only takes about 5-15 pounds to make most people feel better. And after the spasm goes away, traction splints may even seem loose. So, the chance they’ll cause harm when used concurrently on a pelvic fracture with distributed force applied in that manner is just very low. 


More important to me are these points:

  • Apply a pelvic binder first if you have a crushed pelvis and femur fracture. A crushed pelvis is the more significant life threat. 

  • You can splint anything you want. The STS is a splint first that happens to offer traction. So if you have a patient who says I’ve broken my leg, you shouldn’t be dinged for applying the thing and then putting the cord in their hand and pulling together to offer slow, gentle traction to see if that gives pain relief.


Attached is how I think about concurrent pelvis/femur/lower leg trauma.

Hopefully that's helpful.


-Dr. Sam Slishman



bottom of page