An injury that forces the ends of your bones from their normal position is a dislocation. Dislocations are usually a result of some sort of trauma, such as a fall or a blow, but they can also be a result of an underlying disease such as rheumatoid arthritis. Contact sports like football and hockey, and those that may result in falls, like downhill skiing and volleyball, have a high occurrence of dislocation injuries. Dislocations happen in both major joints like the shoulder, hip, knee, elbow, or ankle and in smaller joints like fingers, thumbs, or toes. This sort of injury causes temporary deformity and inability to move the joint, usually along with sudden and severe pain. Dislocations need immediate medical attention.

First Aid for Dislocations

Get medical attention as soon as possible with any suspected dislocation so that you can have the bones repositioned properly. Until you can get medical attention, do the following:

• Splint and immobilize the affected joint and never try force it back into place, which can potentially damage the joint, surrounding muscles, ligaments, nerves, or blood vessels.

• Apply an ice pack to reduce any swelling caused by internal bleeding and the buildup of fluids around the injury.