Bandage

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Achilles bandaging Patroclus. Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, ca. 500 BC, from Vulci. Akhilleus Patroklos Antikensammlung Berlin F2278.jpg
Achilles bandaging Patroclus. Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, ca. 500 BC, from Vulci.
Bandage wrapped around a woman's head, secured with surgical tape Headbandage-woman.jpg
Bandage wrapped around a woman's head, secured with surgical tape
Bandages are also used in martial arts to prevent dislocated joints. KICKBOX008cropped.jpg
Bandages are also used in martial arts to prevent dislocated joints.
The double-spica bandage used on thigh injuries in ancient Greece Greek kneewrapping.jpg
The double-spica bandage used on thigh injuries in ancient Greece

A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support for the movement of a part of the body. When used with a dressing, the dressing is applied directly on a wound, and a bandage is used to hold the dressing in place. Other bandages are used without dressings, such as elastic bandages, which are used to reduce swellings or to provide support to a sprained joint. Tight bandages can be used to slow blood flow to an extremity, such as when a leg or arm is bleeding heavily.

Contents

Bandages are available in a wide range of types, from generic cloth strips to specially shaped bandages designed for a specific limb or part of the body. Bandages can often be improvised as the situation demands, using clothing, blankets or other material. In American English, the word bandage is often used to indicate a small gauze dressing attached to an adhesive bandage.

Types

Gauze bandage (common gauze roller bandage)

The most common type of bandage is the gauze bandage, a woven strip of material with a Telfa [ clarification needed ] absorbent barrier to prevent adhering to wounds. A gauze bandage can come in any number of widths and lengths and can be used for almost any bandage application, including holding a dressing in place.

Adhesive bandage

Liquid bandage

Compression bandage

Short stretch compression bandages are good for protecting wounds on hands, especially on fingers. Bandagedknuckles.jpg
Short stretch compression bandages are good for protecting wounds on hands, especially on fingers.

The term "compression bandage" refers to a wide variety of bandages with many different applications:

Triangular bandage

Also known as a cravat bandage, a triangular bandage is a piece of cloth put into a right-angled triangle, and often provided with safety pins to secure it in place. It can be used fully unrolled as a sling, folded as a normal bandage, or for specialized applications, such as on the head. One advantage of this type of bandage is that it can be makeshift and made from a fabric scrap or a piece of clothing. The Boy Scouts popularized the use of this bandage in many of their first aid lessons, as a part of the uniform is a "neckerchief" that can easily be folded to form a cravat.

Tube bandage

A tube bandage is applied using an applicator, and is woven in a continuous circle. It is used to hold dressings or splints on to limbs, or to provide support to sprains and strains, so that it stops bleeding.

Kirigami bandage

A new type of bandage was invented in 2016; inspired by the art of kirigami, it uses parallel slits to better fit areas of the body that bend. The bandages have been produced with 3D-printed molds. [1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Paper-folding art inspires better bandages". MIT News Office. 27 March 2018.
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