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Pain in limb dislocations
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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What is a dislocation?
This defeat of the joint as a result of trauma, during which the normal position of the bone that form it, deforms, and the person becomes very painful. Most often this situation occurs when a person falls on a straight arm. Then there is a sharp pain, and this is the main symptom by which you need to suspect a dislocation.
Why does this pain arise? Because of the damage and damage to the tissues that surround the joint. First of all, these are nerve endings that transmit painful impulses to the brain, as well as ligaments, muscles and blood vessels. When the joint is injured, it sharply changes its shape. It can become sunken or, on the contrary, a hole is formed on it. Movement due to pain is severely limited, it is impossible even to move a patient with a hand or a foot.
The nature of pain with joint dislocation
Pain in the dislocation is constant. It can be jerking, aching, dull, but necessarily permanent, not stopping. As soon as a person makes the slightest movement, the pain becomes even stronger. A little easier becomes, only if you do not move at all.
First aid in case of dislocation
Once a person has discovered such symptoms after an injury or stroke, he immediately needs to call an ambulance. First of all, you need to do an x-ray of the damaged joint. According to the X-ray picture, the doctor will see for sure whether this is a dislocation, what is the nature of this dislocation, and also whether the bones are intact (maybe there is a crack in them).
After that, the dislocation is corrected (this too is quite painful, but the pain is short). In order not to experience this pain, a person is given general or local anesthesia. The affected limb or part of the body is fixed with a fairly tight bandage or a plaster cast, so that the joint does not come out of the correct position. Then again, repeated X-rays, to make sure that everything is in order with the patient.
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Medicaments when dislocated
Treatment for dislocation is prescribed by a trauma doctor. He most often prescribes such drugs as nimesulide, xefokam, diclofenac, indomethacin, meloxicam and others. These are drugs that do not contain steroids and which relieve inflammation, pain, swelling, and also fight against possible infections.
It is very important to tell the doctor about your illnesses before he prescribes medications. The fact is that with some diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, such as gastritis, a stomach ulcer or duodenal ulcer, some drugs can damage. Used also ointments and balms of anti-inflammatory properties. Ointments with troxevasin in the composition help to cope with bruises and tumors in the place of injury, to remove puffiness.
Physiotherapy
To the pain subsided more quickly, and the affected joint healed more actively, the physician recommends physioprocedures. But this is only a few days after the joint is corrected and it can be disturbed. These are special exercises for the limbs and the whole body, as a result of which incomplete, pain-tight movements are restored, injured muscles, ligaments and tendons heal faster.
In addition to physical education (exercise therapy - exercise therapy), it is also prescribed massage, physiotherapy. If you correctly fulfill all the doctor's prescriptions, then a month later there will be no trace of a dislocation.
What are the dislocations?
The violation of the integrity of the joints, which is accompanied by the displacement of the ends of the bones, can be different. Two large groups of dislocations - acquired and congenital. The acquired dislocations are distinguished as pathological and traumatic. Traumatic, in turn, are divided into habitual and unusual.
With regard to the degree of disruption of the integrity of the joint, the dislocations are complete (the joints can no longer touch each other as a result of trauma), and incomplete. Incomplete dislocations doctors also call subluxations. With these joint injuries, the bones are displaced, but in part still touch each other.
Dislocations are also open and closed. Those in which the skin is damaged in the joint region, that is, on the skin, a person sees a wound - open dislocations. If the code in the area of the damaged joint remains intact, these are closed dislocations.
The dislocated is considered not just an injured bone, but one that changes its position and moves beyond the outline of the trunk. If the shoulder joint is dislocated, it is said that the shoulder is dislocated, and if the hip joint is dislocated, talk about a dislocation of the hip or pelvis.
What is congenital dislocation?
Congenital is called a dislocation, which the child reveals at birth - it is logically clear. The most common dislocation is usually a dislocation of the femoral joint, and it occurs most often in girls. Among congenital dislocations, the hips are one-sided or two-sided.
Mom is very difficult to understand that a newborn child has a hip dislocation - this can only be installed by a doctor. That is why after the birth of a child, several doctors from different specialties, including a traumatologist, are examined at once. The doctor examines the difference between the location of the skin folds of the baby, as well as the turn of the pedicle outward. Sometimes one leg of a child may be shorter than the other. This is a consequence of a congenital dislocation.
When to start treating a congenital dislocation?
If you engage in the joints of the child in the first months after his birth, they can be fixed without surgery. If the dislocation is not detected in time and tightened with the treatment process, congenital dislocation can leave indelible effects in the form of deformity of the limb or the entire body.
It is very good to see a dislocation, when a child, when making his first steps, begins to limp, can not step on a sore leg. This is with a unilateral dislocation. And if the dislocation is two-sided, then the gait of the child is not the same as in healthy children - even, with uniform movements, and such as the ducks walk, rolling from foot to foot.
Up to two years, congenital dislocation of the joint - one-sided or bilateral - can still be corrected. But if the child is more than two years old, only the operation can save the situation and align the joint.
Explicit symptoms of congenital dislocation are found when the child begins to walk (limping, limb shortening on the side of the dislocation). With a bilateral dislocation, the gait is overwhelming, resembling a duck.
If the congenital dislocation of the hip is detected at the age after 2 years, the repositioning is possible, as a rule, only in an operative way.
How does a traumatic dislocation occur?
This happens most often due to movement of the joint, which is not characteristic of it, and also strong pressure or load on the joint. In case of traumatic dislocation, ligaments and joints are usually damaged (except jaw dislocations). If this is an elbow injury with a dislocation, it can compress the nerve roots and blood joints.
Traumatic dislocation (especially in the elbow joint) can be accompanied by squeezing and even rupture of blood vessels or nerves. From this there is a sharp and severe pain, limiting the movements of not only the damaged joint, but the whole body - the pain causes the slightest movement. Also, a traumatic dislocation of the joint may be accompanied by deformity of the joint.
What is the difference between a dislocation and a bruise?
The fact that with a bruise of pain and restriction of movements appear gradually, not immediately, the pain increases. And with a traumatic joint injury, pain occurs immediately and sharply, and the restriction of joint mobility - too.
How are traumatic dislocations treated?
They are corrected by placing the joints in the correct position. At the same time, they can use narcosis - local or general, to reduce severe pain. Then the joint is fixed with plaster or a special bandage, so that it takes the correct form and stays in it stably. It takes time for damaged ligaments and joints to heal.
If the dislocation is fresh and after a short time, it can be fixed much faster and manually, without special tools. Of course. An amateur can not do this, moreover, such attempts are harmful to health.
The ligaments and tendons can be torn in such attempts, and the ligaments can be treated much more painfully and for longer than the joint. To correct traumatic (and any other) dislocation, a person with special knowledge and rich practice is needed. Ideally, this is a traumatologist.
The earlier a person is brought after a dislocation to the trauma center, the faster and more efficiently he can be cured. If the dislocation is not corrected and tolerated for more than two weeks, the soft tissues of the joint begin to become scarred by themselves, and then the correction without surgery can no longer be done.
Traumatic dislocation with an open wound in the area of the affected joint requires special knowledge and the fastest possible medical care. As soon as possible, you should drive to the trauma center of a person who has blood vessels damaged during a dislocation. If you do not help on time, you may have internal hemorrhage and blood infection.
What are the most common dislocations?
The most frequent traumatic dislocations are the zones of the fingers and toes, the lower jaw, the thigh, the forearm, the shoulder. For example, a shoulder dislocation is 50% of all dislocations that patients receive.
Shoulder dislocation
When the joints of the shoulder are injured and come out of their habitual position, there is a sharp pain in the shoulder. No movement of the shoulder can not be done - it immediately pierces the strongest pain. Its shape changes immediately.
The shoulder, in comparison with its position in a healthy form, seems to be lengthening, it is beyond the zone of the trunk, beyond its outlines. The position of the patient also changes. The person deviates more towards the side where the shoulder is damaged - so it is easier for him to endure severe pain. The patient immediately grasps for an injured hand, mainly for the forearm or elbow.
How to help?
It is necessary to hang a sick leg with a handkerchief and immediately go to the trauma center.
Dislocation of the forearm
Dislocation of the forearm - "honorable" second place after a dislocation of the shoulder. It can be recognized by severe pain in the elbow area, sometimes pain is given to the fingers of the injured arm. The forearm is indifferent to any movements, they can not be made from pain. It hangs like a whip, a man clutching at him to somehow support. The elbow not only changes its shape, but the color - blushes, swells, swells. However, reddening does not always occur, but a tumor is necessary.
If a traumatic dislocation of the forearm is accompanied by squeezing the vessels at the elbow bend, the wrist and fingers of the injured arm turn blue or turn pale.
Children up to 6-7 years old should be very careful of traumatic dislocations of the shoulder and forearm, because they can very easily occur. If the child is jerked by the hand, sloppily and roughly dressed, and also undressed, the unstable joints of the baby can be damaged and come out of its habitual position.
Help with forearm dislocation
It is necessary to fix a sick hand with a kerchief or a handkerchief, hanging it, and urgently call a doctor.
Dislocation of fingers
In this traumatic dislocation there is a sharp pain in the fingers, their position is deformed, it is unnatural, the finger begins to bulge outward from the joint. To move them at this moment seems unreal - the finger responds with a sharp, to screaming, pain. Of all the dislocations of the fingers of the hand, the most common is the dislocation of the thumb of the right hand.
First aid
If a person has an open dislocation of the finger, it is necessary, first of all, to apply an antimicrobial bandage, and then call an ambulance. And with closed dislocation (when there is no wound on the finger in the area of the damaged joint), you can call the doctor right away. If the doctor can not be called for a long time (for example, in conditions where there is no nearby trauma center), the damaged hand should be hung on a scarf or scarf. And before that, without changing the position of the deformed finger, you need to fix the brush with a thick layer of cotton wool and bandage. The bandage should not be tight, so as not to damage the joint even more during jerks.
Hip Dislocation
It is not so easy to damage it. To dislocate the thigh, you need a very large gift or firing. When there is a dislocation of the hip joint, along with it comes severe pain in the pelvic joint area. Movement is limited, damaged leg can not even move, not to mention the fact that walking is also impossible.
The most characteristic external sign of dislocation of the hip joint is that the knee of such a leg turns inward, towards the unaffected leg. It is extremely rare to turn the knee of a sick leg outwards - then the dislocated thigh is diverted from the healthy one.
The best posture for such a patient is lying on your back or on your side (opposite to the one that is damaged).
Features of the reaction of the organism during dislocations
When a person has a dislocation of any part of the body (shoulder, hand, hip), he may have accompanying symptoms. In another part of the body, trauma can lead to fracture, bruising, stretching, so this condition can be accompanied not only by pain in one part of the body, but also by bleeding, headache, even loss of consciousness. Blood can come from the nose and ears, a person can vomit, vomit, there may be general weakness and stand out cold sweat.
A person needs to be laid on the healthy side of the body before the ambulance arrives. To the injured area you can apply cold - dry ice or snow, you can make a lotion with cold water to reduce pain and inflammation. On the head, too, you can impose a cold, fix the injured limb with a bandage and wait for the doctor.
With timely access to the hospital, a person after a dislocation is rehabilitated fairly quickly.