Your Patient Is a 21-Year-Old Football Player Who Was Struck

Multiple Choice

Your patient is a 21-year-old football player who was struck in the lateral aspect of the left knee by another player's shoulder. The patient is in extreme pain, and the knee is significantly deformed and swollen. The pedal pulse is weak, but present, and capillary refill is less than 2 seconds. The patient is screaming at you to "fix" his knee. You are 10 minutes from the emergency department. You should:

A) splint the knee as found, start an IV, consider narcotic analgesia.
B) apply gentle axial traction and realign the limb, splint in alignment.
C) flex the knee to a 45-degree angle, splint in position of function.
D) start an IV, administer narcotic analgesia, apply firm axial traction until the pulse returns to normal or resistance is met, then splint.