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
[p. 292]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.
