Emergency War Surgery NATO Handbook: Part IV: Regional Wounds and Injuries: Chapter XXXII: Wounds and Injuries of the Hand
United States Department of Defense
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The hand is constantly subject to serious trauma. Even though minor injuries may be incapacitating, the hand has remarkable recuperative powers. It can be trained to compensate for much of its lost function. Hand injuries should never be taken lightly, even those that appear to be relatively minor. Appropriate early management will yield the maximum possible return of function.
Injuries of the hand, in themselves, seldom result in shock or fatality. The casualty with a hand wound who presents in shock should therefore be evaluated for other more significant wounds. Those lifethreatening wounds should be given treatment priority prior to attending to the hand wound. When other priorities dictate delay in treatment of the hand injury, hemostasis and further injury to the hand are prevented by dressing and immobilizing the hand.
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