Soft tissue injury in a child

First aid for soft tissue injuries

1. Apply adequate compression around the injury site. Make the compression to the site of injury with your hands first and place a supportive elastic bandage on the injury site.
2. Put cold things (a cold bag, snow in a bag, a piece of ice, frozen food) on the injury site. Do not apply cold directly to bare skin to avoid exposing tissues to possible frostbite injury. Keep the cold on the injury site continuously for 10-20 minutes, then repeat the cold treatment every 2 hours for the first 24 hours.
3. Keep the limb raised if possible.
4. If necessary, give painkillers if the child has no allergies.
5. If the child is unable to move or use the limb properly, take the child to a doctor. In addition, if the limb is very swollen and the pain is very severe, the child should also be seen by a doctor.

Compression, Cold, Lifting the limb

The swelling that appears at the site of the injury is therefore mainly tissue fluid and/or blood. Early first aid can have a significant impact on the amount of swelling that appears at the site of the injury, thereby reducing the pain caused by swelling and speeding up the healing process.

1. Compression
   • stopping the bleeding
   • counter-pressure against the inflow of tissue fluid.
2. Cold
   • constricts blood vessels
   • slows down the process of tissue damage
   • effective pain management!
3. Lifting the limb
   • no scientific evidence of benefits
   • still worth doing if the person you are helping finds it useful
   • improvement of venous circulation.