The Differences Between Cases With Primary and Recurrent Shoulder Dislocation: A Tertiary Center Study

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare demographic and clinical characteristics of cases with primary and recurrent shoulder dislocations.
 Methods: Cases who presented to a tertiary center Emergency Medicine Clinic with shoulder dislocation between January 2013 and December 2016 were evaluated.The cases were divided into two groups as primary (Group 1) and recurrent (Group 2) dislocations.Characteristics such as age, gender, seasonal period, dislocation side, causes of trauma, accompanying additional injuries and treatment modalities were compared between the groups.
 Results: 119 cases were included in the study. 64.7% (n=77) of the cases were classified as Group 1, and 35.3% (n=42) as Group 2. There was no difference between Group 1 and Group 2 in terms of age, gender and dislocation side (P values: 0.484, 0.570, 0.251, respectively). Inferior dislocations were more common in Group 1 (n=7/77) compared to Group 2 (n=1/42), and a statistically significant difference was found (p=0.009). Group 2 cases (n=19/42) were found to be more common in the spring than group 1 (n=17/77) (p=0.012). Additional injuries were detected in 8.4% of the cases (n=10/119), 8 of them were in group 1 and 2 of them were in group 2, and there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of additional injury (p=0.491). 11.8% (n=14) of the cases were hospitalized by orthopedics for surgery (open reduction) or closed reduction under general anesthesia. Surgical treatment (open reduction) was applied in 23.8% (n=10/42) in Group 2, and 5.2% (n=4/77) in Group 1, and a statistically significant difference was found between the groups ( p= 0.005).
 Conclusion: It was found that surgical treatment was preferred more frequently on recurrent dislocations compared to primary dislocations. Therefore, we recommend that cases with a history of primary dislocation should take precautions for trauma during active periods of social life.