Pattern of Major Joints Dislocations Seen in a Tertiary Hospital in Enugu, Nigeria

Abstract

Dislocation of a joint is the total disruption of that joint such that bones forming the joint are no longer in contact. The disruption is usually due to application of an unexpected or an unbalanced force to the joint. In America and Europe the shoulder joint is the most dislocated joint. Need to document pattern of major joint dislocations and their causes in our environment prompted this work. Data was collected using the medical records of the hospital via patients' folders, Ward admission registers and Theatre registers of patients admitted from January 2007 to December 2016. The inclusion criteria were all patients admitted into the hospital with closed dislocation due to trauma. Only dislocations involving major lower and upper limb joints were considered. Open dislocations were excluded. 124 patients with 126 dislocations involving 82 males and 42 females were found. The commoner forms of dislocations noted were hip dislocation 84 cases (66.7%) and shoulder dislocation 20 cases (15.8%). Dislocations were seen most in the third decade life. One patient had hip and shoulder dislocation simultaneously and another had bilateral hip dislocations.