Casting and Splinting

What is casting and splinting? Casting and splinting are the common non-surgical treatment options for bone and soft tissue injuries (muscles, tendons, ligaments). What does casting or splinting do? When you break a bone, your doctor first aligns the fractured pieces together in the appropriate position, and then your therapist applies a cast or a splint in order to hold the bones in place while your fracture heals. Casting and splinting helps to stabilise fractures and reduce pain, swelling, and muscle spasm.

• Casting is the most effective way to immobilise skeletal fractures. Skeletal fractures normally require around six weeks of immobilisation.
• Splinting is a highly effective way of immobilising tissues or joints (hand, wrist, foot or ankle) when some movement or flexibility is required for optimum healing.

Splinting combined with gentle physiotherapy exercises is very important in the treatment of most fractures and many soft tissue and joint injuries. Is a referral required? A referral is not required for a consultation. Can I claim this service as an extra on my health insurance policy? A session may be claimed on private health insurance depending on your level of cover, please check with your private health insurance provider.