Comparison between external rotation method and milch method for reduction of acute anterior dislocation of shoulder.

Abstract

Anterior dislocation of shoulder account for more than 50% of dislocation that occur in our body. Several methods of reduction are described in literature which are painful or require anaesthesia. This study was undertaken to compare the External Rotation Method and Milch method for reduction of anterior dislocation of shoulder. There were total 52 patients with anterior dislocation of shoulder, distributed randomly into 2 groups. Reduction was done by External Rotation Method and Milch Method for each group and their outcome were compared. The data was analysed by using SPSS for Windows (version 16.0) by applying the Chi-Square test. p-values of <0.05 was considered as significant. Among each group of 26 patients, three patients required anaesthesia in External Rotation Method and eight patients required anaesthesia in Milch Method. There was no statistically significant difference in success rate between external rotation (88.46%) and Milch (69.23%) methods of reduction (p=0.09). Both methods of reduction can be used for reduction of anterior dislocation of shoulder without anaesthesia but external rotation method was found to be easier and less painful.