[p. 211]and yet I do not speak decidedly respecting it, whether such
a dislocation may take place or not. When, then, a dislocation into
the armpit takes place, seeing it is of frequent occurrence, many
persons know how to reduce it, for it is an easy thing to teach all
the methods by which physicians effect the reductions, and the best
manner of applying them. The strongest of those methods should be
used when the difficulty of reduction is particularly great. The strongest
is the method to be last described.
Part 2
Those who are subject to frequent dislocations at the shoulder-joint,
are for the most part competent to effect the reduction themselves;
for, having introduced the knuckles of the other hand into the armpit,
they force the joint upward, and bring the elbow toward the breast.
The physician might reduce it in the same manner, if having introduced
his fingers into the armpit on the inside of the dislocated joint,
he would force it from the ribs, pushing his own head against the
acromion, in order to make counter-pressure, and with his knees applied
to the patient's elbow pushing the arm to the sides. It will be of
advantage if the operator has strong hands, or the physician may do
as directed with his head and hands, while another person brings the
elbow toward the breast. Reduction of the shoulder may also be effected
by carrying the fore-arm backward to the spine, and then with the
one hand grasping it at the elbow, to bend the arm upward, and with
the other to support it behind at the articulation. This mode of reduction,
and the one formerly described, are not natural, and yet by rotating
the bone of the joint, they force it to return.
Part 3
Those who attempt to perform reduction with the heel, operate in a
manner which is an approach to the natural. The patient must lie on
the ground upon his back, while the person who is to effect the reduction
is seated on the ground upon the side of the dislocation; then the
operator, seizing with his hand the affected arm, is to pull it, while
with his heel in the armpit he pushes in the contrary direction, the
right heel being placed in the right armpit, and the left heel in
the left armpit. But a round ball of a suitable size must be placed
in the hollow of the armpit; the most convenient are very small and
hard balls, formed from
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