What to Expect From Dislocated Joint Treatment

A dislocated joint is an injury that’s hard to ignore, causing severe and sudden pain and immobility of the affected body part. Despite what you may see in the movies, you should never try to fix a dislocated joint on your own. 

Instead, you need to immobilize the bones and separated joint with a splint and come in and see us at Pro-Health Urgent Care of Midland or go to the nearest emergency room. Our team includes experienced urgent care specialists who treat all types of joint dislocations for people of all ages.

Here’s what you can expect from dislocated joint treatment.

Evaluation and diagnosis

Before we make any treatment recommendations, we do a thorough evaluation to fully understand what’s happening. While your symptoms may clearly indicate that you have a dislocated joint, we need to confirm a diagnosis to provide the best possible care.

We examine the joint and the surrounding area and ask detailed questions about the injury. We then order an X-ray to verify you have a dislocated joint and rule out any other injuries like broken bones. 

Fixing the dislocated joint

Our immediate course of treatment for a dislocated joint is to put the joint back in place. We call this procedure a closed reduction. We may give you a local anesthetic or sedative before we start. 

A closed reduction is a manual procedure. We gently and carefully push and pull on the bones that make up the joint until they’re in proper alignment. We do a second X-ray to confirm that the bones are back in place and that you have no other injuries.

We highly discourage you or anyone else from attempting to fix a dislocated joint before a health professional properly examines it. If you try to force the joint back into place, you may damage the joint, muscles, blood vessels, and surrounding tissue, worsening the injury and delaying the healing process.

At-home care for dislocation

When you dislocate a joint, the ligaments that hold the bones in place stretch, making the joint loose and unstable. Before you go back to your usual active routine, you need to immobilize the injured joint for a period of time, allowing the ligaments and other supportive connective tissue to heal. 

We recommend that you wear a splint, brace, or sling during the healing process to keep the joint immobilized. You may also need to take medication to control pain and inflammation and avoid any activity that places too much stress on the joint.

The length of recovery time from joint dislocation varies depending on your body and the severity of the injury. It ranges from a few weeks for a dislocated finger to several months for a dislocated shoulder.

A dislocated joint is a serious injury that needs immediate medical attention. If you or someone you love has a dislocated joint, visit Pro-Health Urgent Care of Midland. We can provide the care you need so you can get better faster.