About this episode
Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: There are many techniques for reducing a shoulder dislocation A recent study discussed a new variation of closed reduction technique: wrist-clamping shoulder-lifting The patient is in a sitting position The provider holds the wrist of the injured arm with both hands and slowly rotates the arm to 90 degrees of abduction and 60 degrees of external rotation After this traction, the arm is slowly moved to 45 degrees of abduction and 60 degrees of external rotation The provider then secures the patient's wrist between the provider's knees and places their hand on the axilla to gently lift the shoulder upward for successful reduction There were 36 patients with shoulder dislocations in this study, and all 36 dislocations were successfully reduced with this technique There were no neurovascular complications or fractures No sedation or medication was required All procedures were performed by a single provider without assistance References Dai W, Liu L, Zong S, Zhou Y, Zheng J, Li X. An original closed reduction technique for acute shoulder dislocation: the wrist-clamping and shoulder-lifting. Int J Emerg Med. 2025 Mar 26;18(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s12245-025-00866-8. PMID: 40140973; PMCID: PMC11948627. Summarized by Meg Joyce, MS2 | Edited by Meg Joyce & Jorge Chalit, OMS4 Donate: https://emergencymedicalminute.org/donate/