Lussazione del gomito
After the shoulder, the elbow is the joint that dislocates more often, and in less than ten years old children it is the most common of all. In most of the cases elbow dislocations are posterior and 30- 40% are associated with fractures.
The most common mechanism that causes posterior dislocations of the radius and ulna on the humerus, is the fall back on arm with flexed elbow.
The pain is very intense at the time of the trauma and movements are impossible. In suspicion of dislocations associated with fracture is appropriate to conduct a radiological exam. Generally occurs the reduction as early as possible and after the reduction the elbow is flexed to 90 degrees and immobilized for about two weeks.
Then is important to tackle all phases of rehabilitation in order to reach a complete functional recovery: from the control of pain and swelling to the recovery of motion, muscular strength and after that coordination exercises and the resumption of specific sport gesture.
Dislocated elbow – Rehabilitation
After the shoulder, the elbow is the joint that dislocates more often especially in children under 10 years. The most common mechanism producing posterior dislocation of the radius and ulna compared to the humerus is the fall back on the arm with the elbow flexed and the forearm supinated.
The first goal of rehabilitation is to control the pain and joint function recovery through gradual mobilization of the elbow both in inflection/extension and pronation/supination without forgetting the joint recovery of the upstream and downstream joints of the same to avoid a deficit of movement and massage therapy for upper limb muscles.
Once you gained the full range of motion you can proceed to the second phase of the treatment protocol focused on the gradual strengthening of the muscles first with manual resistance then reinforced with rubber bands and weights of the biceps and triceps, prono-supinator. It is important to recover the strength of the forearm and shoulder muscles, especially the muscles of the rotator cuff and epitrochlear and epicondylus muscles.
Rehabilitation ends with the last phase on the field for a gradual recovery of technical movements with progressive exercises of launch and socket of objects in various degrees, movements and distances and other preventive measures to improve the motor patterns of the fall and cushioning.
