How it works. Use a 128hz tuning fork and your stethoscope. Hold your stethoscope on one end of the bone and then hit the fork on the meaty part of your leg to get it vibrating. Starting at the other end of the bone and slowly walk your tuning fork towards your stethoscope. For major fractures, the sound will be diminished when your stethoscope and your fork are on opposite sides of your fracture. Once you have moved your tuning fork in between the fracture and your stethoscope the sound will greatly increase. This gives you a rough estimate of where your fracture is. Compare your findings with the uninjured side.

Secondly, the vibrations of 128hz will cause the bone fragments to vibrate against each other and cause an increase of pain. It can turn a 3/10 pain fibula avulsion fracture turn into 7/10 pain when the tuning fork was placed near the fracture site.

The 128 mhz works better than any other frequency.

The research. According to Jones et al, this technique was 80% successful in finding neck of the femur fractures. Dr. Moore found 81% accuracy in his study. The Wilderness Medical Society used the vibrations of a mobile phone along with a stethoscope to assess for fractures with an 83% success rate.

Make sure that you have a 128hz tuning fork in your med kit. If you don’t want to carry one in your ruck then at least have one in your truck medical kit or team house medical bay.

This is a video taken from the Tropical, Travel, Expedition Medical Skills (TTEMS) course where this technique is taught on the NATO Special Operations Combat Medic (NSOCM) course in Pfullendorf, Germany.