Which technique is better for reduction of anterior shoulder dislocation? External rotation or Milch method. A review of literature

Abstract

Anterior shoulder dislocation is the most common joint dislocation in human body. Many methods are traditionally described for reduction of shoulder dislocation. Most of these techniques are painful to patients and may be associated with further injury. An ideal method should be easy, effective, and less painful, not associated with iatrogenic complications and should be easy to teach and learn. Among different methods of reduction, external rotation and Milch methods are more popular. Both methods are found to be atraumatic, relatively painless and can be performed without anesthesia. In this article, we aimed to review the literatures regarding these two methods of reduction and comparing their success rate and outcome. We reviewed the literature to find articles related to reduction of anterior shoulder dislocations applying one of two techniques described above. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar. In total, 46 articles were found, of them 17 articles -which mainly focused on anterior shoulder dislocation reduction by means of two above methods-were included in this review. The results showed that both techniques were effective, safe, relatively painless, and were well tolerated with no complications, but the external rotation method was superior.

Keywords

• shoulder
• shoulder dislocation
• shoulder joint