To maximize benefits while minimizing complications, the use of casts and splints is generally limited to the short term. Excessive immobilization from continuous use of a cast or splint can lead to chronic pain, joint stiffness, muscle atrophy, or more severe complications (e.g., complex regional pain syndrome).
Energy Department: Fracking doesnât contaminate groundwater. In this March 29, 2013 photo, technicians inside a trailer direct the pressure and mix of water and chemicals pumped into an Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. well during hydraulic fracturing, outside Rifle, in western Colorado.
What is Fracking? âFrackingâ is short for hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking. It is the process of injecting frack fluid, a mixture of water, sand and chemicals, at high pressure into shale to fracture the rock, thereby releasing trapped natural gas. Marcellus shale is a layer of black rock that lies 3,500-8,000 feet below the surface and is the current target of fracking. Most of West Virginia is underlain with this shale; in West Virginia the vertical depth of the formation itself is approximately 150 feet. The formation also extends into Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Virginia. Fluid recovered from the well after the fracking is completed is called flowback fluid or waste water.