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Table of Contents
Part 33
If the dislocated bones cause a wound in the skin, and protrude, it is better to let them alone, provided only they are not allowed to hang, nor are compressed. The treatment consists in applying pitched cerate, or compresses dipped in hot wine (for cold is bad in all such cases), and certain leaves; but in winter unwashed wool may be applied as a cover to the part; neither cataplasms nor bandaging; restricted diet. Cold, great weight, compression, violence, restricted position, all such are to be accounted as fatal measures. When treated moderately (they escape), maimed and deformed; for, if the dislocation be at the ankle, the foot is drawn upward, and, if elsewhere, according to the same rule. The bones do not readily exfoliate; for only small portions of them are denuded, and they heal by narrow cicatrices. The danger is greatest in the greatest joints, and those highest up. The only chance of recovery is, if they are not reduced, except at the fingers and hand, and in these cases the danger should be announced beforehand. Attempts at reduction to be made on the first or second day; or, if not accomplished then, on the tenth, by no means on the fourth. Reduction by levers. Treatment:-As in injuries of the bones of the head, and the part is to be kept hot; and it is better to give hellebore immediately after the parts have been reduced. With regard to the other bones, it should be well known, that, if replaced, death will be the consequence; the more surely and expeditiously, the greater the articulation, and the more high its situation. Dislocation of the foot is attended with spasm (tetanus) and gangrene; and if, upon its being replaced, any of these symptoms come on, the chance of recovery, if there be any chance, is in displacing it anew; for spasms do not arise from relaxation, but from tension of the parts.