Part 16
If the fracture be not thus, but if it incline either forward or backward,
it may be restored to its natural position, by raising the shoulder
with the arm as formerly described, and brought back to its natural
place, when the cure will be speedily accomplished. Most of the varieties
of displacement may be rectified by raising the arm upward. When the
upper bone is displaced laterally or downward, it would favor the
adaptation of the parts if the patient would lie on his back, and
if some elevated substance were placed between the shoulder-blades,
so that the breast may be depressed as much as possible upon the two
sides; and if, while
[p. 225] another person raised the arm extended along
the sides, the physician, applying the palm of the one hand to the
head of the bone, would push it away, and with the other would adjust
the broken bones, he would thus reduce the parts most readily to their
natural position. But, as formerly stated, the upper bone (
sternal
fragment?) is rarely depressed downward. In most cases, after the
bandages have been applied, that position is beneficial in which the
elbow is fixed to the same side, and the shoulder is kept elevated;
but in certain cases, the shoulder is to be raised, as has been directed,
and the elbow is to be brought forward to the breast, and the hand
laid on the acromion of the sound side. If the patient has the resolution
to lie in bed, something should be placed so as to support the shoulder,
and keep it as much elevated as possible. But if he walk about, the
arm should be slung in a shawl, which embraces the point of the elbow,
and is passed round the neck.
