Episode 969: Shoulder Reduction

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

1. 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

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