People Have Different Pain Thresholds

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Many people have the idea if a person has a broken leg it would impossible for them to walk. This is taught in most in most first aid training courses. In most cases, this is true. There are a few considerations a first aider should keep in mind when dealing with an injured person. The following are some situations where people may be able to walk with broken bones or their injuries may be more serious than they first appear to be. In my online first aid course we demonstrated a person walking with a broken ankle.

Severity of the break

Obviously, if the break is severe, the affected limb will not be able to function. You cannot stand on your femur (thighbone) if it’s been broken completely through in several pieces. If it is just a small crack in the bone, the person may be able to walk. They will be in pain, but it’s possible they may be able to walk.

High Pain Threshold

Some people can handle pain better than others. Some people may receive an injury where they almost pass out from the pain. The injury could be quite minor. Another person may receive a serious injury and be able to handle it quite well. An example is a 9 year old boy we attended. His sister and him were playing in the clothes dryer in the basement of the house. Mom was upstairs. His sister hit the on switch. For some reason, the dryer turned started with his leg in it. This isn’t supposed to happen, but it did. His femur was fractured. There was not one tear from this brave little guy.

We also attended a 30 year old 250 lb guy who fell off the back of the pickup truck while putting his motorcycle on. Exactly the same kind of break the little boy had. This guy screamed, howled, swore and cried all the way to the hospital.

Different people can have different pain thresholds.

Drugs and Alcohol

Many people have woken up with injuries after a night of partying. They may have received some painful injuries which, at the time, they didn’t really feel the pain like they normally would have. Drugs and alcohol can mask the pain from injuries. The expression “the person wasn’t feeling any pain” when they are intoxicated does have some truth to it.

It’s because of this that some people trained in first aid don’t realize the person may be injured more seriously than first thought.

Head Injuries

If a person has received a blow to the head, the pain him or her normally felt may be reduced. Here’s what I mean. As a paramedic we attended a fifteen year old boy who was involved in a head on collision with a pickup truck. He was riding a scooter. As we pulled up with the ambulance we noticed both arms and legs were flaying around. It was obvious that each limb had multiple fractures. This clued us in there may be more serious injuries. In the hospital the discovered the boy had a lacerated liver and was in shock from blood loss. He also had a serious head injury. These other injuries masked the pain of the fractures. Normally, you wouldn’t attempt to move your limbs with the fractures this kid had. It would hurt too much.

Shock

If a person has lost a lot of blood from either internal or external bleeding, their level of consciousness and their pain threshold can be changed from a normal situation. The person may become confused and not aware of what is happening. Shock can hide or reduce the person’s reaction to pain and injuries.

As you can see, in Calgary Standard first aid training , a person should be aware that there could be more serious injuries than first appears. Keep this in mind when treating any injured person.

Scene Assessment for First Aid

When dealing with a sick or injured person and administering first aid, the first step you should remember is that you have to protect yourself. If you are injured while attempting to help someone, you are not only unable to help the person but now you have complicated the matter and the rescuers will have to deal with two injured people. This is the most important factor in any first aid training, whether it’s first aid for the home or Industrial First Aid Training… you must protect yourself. Downed power lines or traffic that isn’t controlled can make a simple first aid situation a disaster within seconds.

Assessing the Scene

When assessing the scene, you are taking a good look around. Look for any kind of potential dangers such as spilled gasoline, running equipment or anything else than can cause potential problems and injury.

You are also looking to see how many people are injured. People may have wandered off from the accident scene in a dazed condition or, they may have been ejected from a vehicle in a collision or rollover.

Control the Hazards

Once you have assessed the scene for hazards, you must try to control the hazards. This is done to protect yourself, the injured people and bystanders. For example, in a vehicle collision scene, traffic must be controlled. In many situations people have rushed into an accident scene and were hit by oncoming traffic.

 

 

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In a possible electrocution, the power must be shut off. If there are machinery or power tools running, they could be a hazard and should be shut off. Do whatever needs to be done to make the scene safe before attempting to help. You safety is the most import part of any first aid situation.

In some situations, the scene may be too dangerous for you to attempt to help. The best move may be to stand back, and call for the professional help. This could be a very difficult decision to make but, it is the right decision. When people start thinking with their emotions, they often don’t think clearly. They rush into a scene without thinking about safety and this could be a deadly mistake.

Activate EMS

Once the scene is assessed and the hazards have been controlled, the next step is to make sure the proper help is called. The more information you can give, the better.

When calling for help, be prepared to provide the following information:

• The complete address and location
• The nature of the problem
• The number of injured people
• The telephone number you are calling from
• Your name

The emergency dispatcher may want to ask you more questions, don’t hang up first. In most cases, as soon as the dispatcher knows the problem and location, they may put you on hold. When this is happening they may be dispatching the emergency vehicles… they will then come back to you and ask further questions.

Once again, when dealing with a first aid situation, you must make sure the scene is safe. Your safety is the most important part of any rescue or first aid situation.

Learn more about First Aid Safety Courses Please visit: www.alberta-firstaid.com