A fall or a blow may bring such a sudden wrench or twist upon the ligaments as to force a bone out of place.  This displacement is known as a dislocation.  A child may trip or fall during play and put his elbow out of joint.  A fall from horseback, a carriage, or a bicycle may result in a dislocation of the shoulder joint.  In playing baseball a swift ball often knocks a finger out of joint.  A dislocation must be reduced at once.  Any delay or carelessness may make a serious and painful affair of it, as the torn and bruised parts rapidly swell and become extremely sensitive.

60.  Broken Bones.  The bones, especially those of the upper limbs, are often fractured or broken.  The simple fracture is the most common form, the bone being broken in a single place with no opening through the skin.  When properly adjusted, the bone heals rapidly.  Sometimes bones are crushed into a number of fragments; this is a comminuted fracture.  When, besides the break, there is an opening through the soft parts and surface of the body, we have a compound fracture.  This is a serious injury, and calls for the best surgical treatment.

A bone may be bent, or only partly broken, or split.  This is called “a green-stick fracture,” from its resemblance to a half-broken green stick.  This fracture is more common in the bones of children.

Fractures may be caused by direct violence, as when a bone is broken at a certain point by some powerful force, as a blow from a baseball bat or a fall from a horse.  Again, a bone may be broken by indirect violence, as when a person being about to fall, throws out his hand to save himself.  The force of the fall on the hand often breaks the wrist, by which is meant the fracture of the lower end of the radius, often known as the “silver-fork fracture.”  This accident is common in winter from a fall or slip on the ice.

Sometimes bones are broken at a distance from the point of injury, as in a fracture of the ribs by violent compression of the chest; or fracture may occur from the vibration of a blow, as when a fall or blow upon the top of the head produces fracture of the bones at the base of the brain.[6]

61.  Treatment for Broken Bones.  When a bone is broken a surgeon is needed to set it, that is, to bring the broken parts into their natural position, and retain them by proper appliances.  Nature throws out between and around the broken ends of bones a supply of repair material known as plastic lymph, which is changed to fibrous tissue, then to cartilage, and finally to bone.  This material serves as a sort of cement to hold the fractured parts together.  The excess of this at the point of union can be felt under the skin for some time after the bone is healed.