You can injure your arm and get a shoulder dislocation under various conditions. Learning how to correct the situation and giving yourself or others first aid is very important. Medical statistics indicate that shoulder dislocation accounts for more than 55% of all injuries, which is not surprising. The special structure of the shoulder joint made it the most vulnerable spot when injured when compared with other joints. Therefore, the statistics are so high. If this happens, you should know how to straighten your shoulder.
Doctors practice four basic ways of putting a joint in place:
- according to Hippocrates-Cooper;
- according to Kocher;
- Dzhanelidze method;
- Chaklin's way.
From a practical point of view, each of them can be realized only with the help of another person. Ideally, this should be a doctor or specialist familiar with such injuries. But there are situations when there are no strangers.
How to straighten your shoulder yourself - an algorithm of actions
To correct the injury you have to resort to using your own shoulder. You need to proceed as follows:
- The injured must sit on a hard surface (earth, bed or something else), while there should be free space behind him.
- Next, you need to bend the knees (or one from the side of the dislocation) and press them as close to the body as possible. Now grasping the legs with your hands, clutching your fingers into the lock, while the thumbs should be placed upward.
- When the patient is grouped, you need to carefully, without making sudden movements, start to lean back. This should be done in such a way that all efforts fall on the injured shoulder.
- Continue until the joint snaps into place.
Even if you know how to straighten your shoulder, it’s better not to do it yourself. Incorrect, abrupt actions can aggravate the situation, for example, pinching, fracture or greater displacement of bones.
In almost every case, trauma is associated with severe pain. To stop sensations, you should take an analgesic. And only after that start the process described above. Now you know how to straighten your shoulder yourself, but it is better to seek qualified help.
Hippocrates-Cooper injury management technique
First of all, the patient should be put on his back. The doctor or the one who will eliminate the dislocation, is facing the victim from the side of the injury and takes his hand with both hands.
Now, before adjusting the shoulder, you need to remove the shoes from the leg corresponding to the side of the dislocation. The foot is placed in the armpit, in the area of the joint head, and they begin to press, while simultaneously stretching the patient’s arm along the axis.
It is important to ensure that the movements are synchronous and simultaneous. This avoids the risk of complications. As a result, you will be able to quickly and correctly put the joint in place.
Direction of dislocation on Chaklin
The patient is placed horizontally on his back, and the adjuster becomes behind his head. With one hand you need to take the injured by the hand, and put the other on his shoulder in the region of the head of the joint. After this, you need to begin to carefully move the shoulder head to the side.
The presented technique is absolutely not suitable for independent use due to the fact that it is too painful. Doctors practice it only after administering anesthesia to the patient. Most often, the method is used in those cases when the dislocation entailed a simple fracture.
The method of reduction according to Janelidze
As in the previous case, the patient must be anesthetized before the procedure. After that, he is laid on the table with a sick side. It is important to control the victim’s posture and ensure that the edge of the couch passes under the armpit and the arm hangs down. After this, the patient is left to lie for about 20 minutes in this position.
Before adjusting the shoulder, the doctor should stand facing the patient, hold it firmly in the forearm with one hand, and begin to press in the area closer to the elbow. Along with this, it is necessary to press on the shoulder joint in a circular motion. As a result, you can quickly eliminate the injury.
After all the manipulations, a fixing bandage is applied to the injured hand and attached to the chest. To control the correctness of all actions and to avoid complications, you need to do an x-ray.
After a week, the bandage is removed, and the patient is recommended to begin rehabilitation gymnastics. Full performance is possible no earlier than in a month.
Kocher Method
The presented method is prohibited for patients of the older age group and with osteoporosis. The patient is laid with his back on the couch so that the injured arm is outside.
Further actions consist of four stages:
- The doctor takes the injured hand in the elbow and hand, while the elbow needs to be bent 90 degrees. Then he is taken to the body, and his arm is pulled along the axis. The assistant at this time fixes the forearm as firmly as possible.
- Now rotate the shoulder in a circular motion until it enters the frontal plane. Necessary to turn the head forward. After a click, the shoulder is considered straightened.
- Now the doctor takes the patient's forearm up and directs it to the right. It is necessary to ensure that the elbow remains pressed to the body. Some only at this stage, the shoulder is adjusted.
- Finally, with a sharp movement of the forearm, the doctor guides the joint into place. After the injured hand is placed on the other shoulder, and the forearm on the chest. Fix a hand.
It is not recommended to fix the injury yourself. It is best to seek qualified help, where the doctor himself will determine how to correct shoulder dislocation in order to avoid complications.