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Primary Surgery Vol.2 – Trauma : The shoulder and upper arm : Introduction

71.1 Introduction

Most shoulder injuries are caused by a patient falling on the point of his shoulder, or on his outstretched hand. If he does this, he can dislocate the joints at either end of his clavicle, or break it anywhere. He can injure his brachial plexus. He can also break his scapula, dislocate his shoulder, or break the neck of his humerus. Occasionally, he breaks the neck of his humerus and dislocates its head.

We have already discussed the general principles of examining an injured limb (69.1), so here are some more detailed methods, which will be particularly useful, if you don’t have X–rays. Do them gently, because they can be painful, particularly examining for crepitus.

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