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Table of Contents
Part 82
Accidents at the knee are more mild than at the elbow, from its being compact, regular, and elegant in its construction; and, therefore, it is more readily dislocated and reduced. It is most frequently dislocated inward, but also outward and backward. The modes of reduction are these: by flexion at the knee, or by sudden calcitration, or having rolled a swathe into a ball, and fixed it in the ham, the patient's body is to be suddenly dropped on its bended knees. Dislocation backward, also, as in the case of the elbow, may be reduced by moderate extension, and to either side, either by flexion or calcitration, but also by moderate extension. The adjustment is the same in all cases. In dislocations backward which are not reduced, the patient cannot bend the joint, but neither can he, to any great extent, in the other varieties; the thigh and leg are wasted in front; but if inward the patients become bow-legged, and the external parts are wasted; but if outward they become more bandy-legged, but the impediment is less, for the body is supported on the larger of the bones, and the inner parts are wasted. When these accidents happen at birth or during adolescence, they follow the rule formerly stated.