This Victorian Invention Saved Thousands In WW1  

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"Doc, what are my odds?" "80%" "Of?" "We'll see"

Really nice of him to travel forward in time to explain this to us.

One of the reasons that a femur fracture can be fatal is that the femoral artery is the main blood supply to the lower body. If you break the femur, it is likely to leave a sharp edge of bone, which in turn can easily slice into your femoral artery and you will bleed out in no time. That's just one reason. 😊

Ive broken my femur before, and it contracted like explained. Before the EMT's could get me out of the house, they put me on a stretcher, closed the door, tied me down, and pulled it back into place with a similar but modern version. Not too many pains quite like that one. but I survived.

finally, a victorian invention that doesn't try and kill you

Shout out to the cameraman traveling back in 1914 to record this

Traction splinting was an absolutely phenomenal medical innovation. Really cool to see early iterations of a traction splint!

Interesting fact about statistics. When tin hats were introduced by the British army in WW1 the number of head injuries recorded by field hospitals rocketed and some officers who had sneered at the idea of helmets seized on this as a sign of how useless they were. It did not take long, however, for it to be realised that most of these casualties would have previously been in the KIA ledger rather than wounded.

You know WW1 was hell when the life-saving equipment sounds like torture.

"you have an 80% chance of dying" The music: 🎷🎷💃🕺

Traction splints actually drastically reduce pain. From like a 25/10 to a 11/10

It also TREMENDOUSLY reduces pain bc of less bone grinding. Traction splints are amazing.

I’m an EMT and I use the modern version of this all the time. Honestly it hasn’t changed much

What a fine distinguished gentleman

We need to bring back dressing like this guy

Honestly nothing more attractive to me than a well spoken well mannered handsome man on this earth

I've never imagined your leg muscles pulling your bones further beyond the initial break. Horrifying.

The first seconds when seeing this vid, I thought it was a giant saw that was meant to amputate limbs with broken bones

It went from -80% to 80% real quick

Dude's dressed like he's about to announce that tomorrow we go "over the top"

the guy who's 4'11: 🗿

It's called a Thomas Splint and is widely in use in emergency situations even today. An amazing invention.

"What are my chances doc?" "I don't know, have we invented bent metal bars yet?"

_"I had two of thowse thangs at age seven, and I lived."_ -Forrest Gump

He got that leader’s aura.

How men dress :🧍‍♂️ How men want to dress:

I actually used these, 45 years ago. You've got it backward, the padded piece goes behind the leg, a cravat secures it over the front, another cravat for an ankle hitch, and a third cravat around the bottom with a windlass inserted to create the traction - a few more cravats between the top and bottom to add support to the leg.

It's impossible not to smile while watching your videos.

EMT here, we still use traction splints like this to this day. Femur fractures come with a lot of complications, but this technology as well as many others that came out of WW1 (which actually ended up being one of the major basis for emergency healthcare) were revolutionary. Awesome to see the history here!

I imagine his mustache smells of cigars, whiskey and chutney.

That is probably one of the single most painful procedures a human being can endure without going into shock

A broken femur would quite possibly be the most terrifying break. For me anyway

What a distinguished gentleman

That mustache is a fantastic piece of kit.

Something so simple and yet its saved so many lives, what a work of genius

So I watched a series about all the Victorian home items that were deadly, but I'd love to see the things like this that actually saved folks.

Sir, I just wanted to let you know your mustache game is ON POINT. Have a great day.

I broke my femur and was put in a modern version of this. The crazy thing is that once you are secure in it the pain almost completely goes away. It's wild, one second you're in the most excruciating pain you've ever been in, the next It's nothing Edit: got a few comments about the pain going away because of medication. When I was put in the brace I was on a snowy mountain minutes after a skiing accident. I didn't receive any medication till I got to the hospital a while later. The ride down the mountain and road bumps in the ambulance hurt quite a bit, but when everything was still I felt very little to no pain.

"Doc... how long do i have..." "10" "Hours? Days? Weeks?" "9..." "Oh..."

It’s a Thomas leg splint. I taught army medics how to use it.

we have to protect this man from these thirst comments

A dapper gentleman explaining a fantastic medical innovation. Makes my day brighter.

simple yet effective.

You, dear sir, have the most wonderful voice and I love with how much passion you told us about this equipment. ❤️

"That's why I lost my medical license"

Traction splint. I am an army flight medic and I was able to use this on a kid who had a midshaft femur fracture as result of a mountain biking incident. Kid went form a 7/10 pain to 1-2/10 pain just from the splint despite the vibrations of the helicopter. Such a fascinating intervention.

Bro really changed the statistics to 100% survival compared to previous one 💀

His moustache alone dates back to the Boer War.

Note to Vocabulary: remove "stuff" add "piece of kit"

I can't even imagine how phenomenally painful breaking and resetting your femur is. Especially with that type of treatment.

I fractured my tibia a couple months ago as part of a complicated high AND low ankle sprain 😅 Happened at the end of September and I’m STILL recovering and it’s freaking insane how a small crack can affect so much even when it’s not deadly lol

[Grabs out pistol] Let's turn that 80 into 100

soldier: "i have a small fracture in my leg" 19th century doctor: "amputation, it is."

As an EMT, we use a leg splint of a similar design even to this day

This specific dialect of British accent just sounds so nice.

You have some serious talent!

This Englishman is the kind I like

what amazes me more is his visual looks. The moustache, hair, uniform, and his face in general. He looks like he's been taken out of a certain time 100 years ago by a time traveler.

Still sounds the most painful experience ever.

Your voice is so soothing.

I was a firefighter/emt, so I knew it wasn’t a good sign when pulling traction on my leg resulted in pain relief. That is also a symptom of a femur fracture. Fortunately, it wasn’t that in my case, but the contusion was quite painful still.

the 20% chance of dying: "I still exist you know."

Great video and its amazing to see the way weapons and medical equipment started to change over time.

bro got that 1886 drip.

The definition of a British gentleman.

I’m glad British Tom Cruise was here to explain this fine piece of kit

As a firefighter, EMT-A used it many times. It's amazing how a person who is in agonizing pain with this break will go from pain to no pain in minutes.

This should replace my need for a hip replacement.

Shit I thought he was gonna go: “This is a bone saw”

He's so adorably excited about this, makes me excited too.

Medical innovations that are just a bunch of lines in a perfect array are truly a marvel

That seems incredibly painful

That Moustache deserves 2 Oscars.

"What happens when you broke your femur?" "You hear the old man"

The 80% chance of surviving sounds incredibly painful.

I saw one of those in antique shop & wondered what it was/ was used for. Thank you! Bugs the heck out of me when I can't figure it out.

Ambulances still carry the same basic tool today, though with a few improvements. They're made of modern materials, have a pulley to help pull the leg, and are designed to collapse into a little bag for storage; it's called a traction splint.

That’s the most dapper man I’ve ever seen

It's amazing that the simplest of remedies can increase the likelihood of survival by so much.

Finally, we can reuse D-class to contain scp-106.

These have been updated and are still used today to stabilize femur breaks in the field and in the hospital, so cool to see its older versions!

This man definitely has "take your pants off, but keep talking" energy.

This is truly amazing!

It's so interesting, because when I broke my femur, they used a similar device

“You now have a 20% chance of dying.” Then the next volley hits

i broke both of my femurs two times each and here i was thinking that “the numbas don’t lie!” 😂

I really liked this and in particular liked the gentleman in the WW1 get up. Even the moustache. Very authentic

I met this guy at a reenactment. What a cool guy too.

I love how your uniform reminds me of Dads Army.... Specifically Srg. Wilson

This dude has the most greatest mustache in history

I keep forgetting to add “piece of kit” to my repertoire

The outfit, the view, the accent, the voice, feels like back ol' days

This is addictively good content.

the outfit, the mustache, the accent, the kind warming attitude, you Sir, are an absolute win ✨

Bro is historically accurate

That is a very powerful moustache

behold, the femur unbreaker

"The leg I placed fffffruuu here."

I remember being put into one of those after getting a complete fracture in my left femur. It's actually not as painful pulling your leg apart as I thought it would be