How To Apply A Sling Video

A sling is required in order to immobilize a broken or strained arm or shoulder. Learn how to make and apply a sling in this first aid video.

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Use triangle of cloth
Place victim's arm in sling
Tie tails of sling around neck

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Captain Joe Bruni has over 30-years experience as a street firefighter and company officer. He also completed a great deal of research with other instructors who have co-authored articles with him. He has experience as a department training officer in the Fire and Rescue Safety & Training Division. He receives a great deal of pleasure and gain's excitement from watching firefighters put learned skills into practice. "I strive to touch the future of the fire service by passing on my experience, knowledge, and techniques that I have learned over the years. I have written several articles for Fire Engineering Magazine which are available upon request. In today's firefighting world, the amount of actual structure fires has dropped almost 50 percent. I believe training efforts have to be increased at all levels using experienced instructors who can pass on the knowledge."

CAPT. JOE BRUNI: Hi. I am Capt. Joe Bruni with over three decades of firefighting and emergency medical service experience. I am going to cover the steps on how to apply a sling. Basically, if a first aid kit is handy and we find a triangular bandage inside that is what we are going to want to use. If we have no first aid kit or triangular bandage available, we will take any ordinary piece of cloth, fold it into a triangular shape, and at the apex of the triangle we will tie the basic overhand knot. Once the knot is formed, we will take the victim's arm and place it inside of the sling. We will then take the tails of the sling and tie it up around the victim's head by using the basic square knot, being careful not to place the knot over the bony part of the spine in the neck region. Once the sling is applied, we will take another piece of cloth if we have another triangular bandage that will be adequate or any other piece of cloth that is formed in a strip type of fashion to apply the swathe. The swathe will go around the victim and be tied off to the victim to keep the arm in place, again, using the basic square knot. The steps to applying a sling are basically to find a triangular bandage if one is handy and if not use any ordinary piece of cloth as the first step to form into a triangle. The second step would be to tie a knot in the apex of the triangular piece of cloth, apply it to the victims arm, tying a square knot around the backside of the neck as the next step, being careful not to apply the knot over the bony structure of the neck, finding another piece of cloth to form a swathe around that victim's arm to hold that arm in place so we can transport and seek medical attention.

How to Apply a Sling Video

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