Spinal Backboard-Necessity or Hazard? The IDF Clinical Practice Guidelines and Policy.

In light of the evidence showing the potential harmful effects of the routine use of spinal backboards, the IDF guidelines have been revised and now recommends avoiding the routine use of spinal backboards and using a standard stretcher for transporting potential SCI patients. Current IDF guidelines recommend using a backboard for the extraction of an entrapped patient and for obtunded or unconscious patients with obvious deformity or mechanism for spinal trauma.