In the first-aid section of Cliff Jacobson's camping book ("Camping's Top Secrets", I think), he discusses a method for treating a dislocated shoulder where the injured person lays on his/her stomach on an elevated flat surface (like a large rock or a log) with a 5-10 pound weight tied to the the wrist and the arm hanging straight down. Supposedly, after a while, the weight is supposed to allow the shoulder to reset itself. He describes the method as "foolproof". Can anyone comment on the validity of this method? If this really works, this seems like a very worthwhile piece of information for touring kayakers. Evan Dallas Woodinville, Washington *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On 9 Jun 2005 at 22:46, Evan Dallas wrote: > Can anyone comment on the validity of this method? If this really > works, this seems like a very worthwhile piece of information for > touring kayakers. I've no experience with it, but the Stimson Method is taught in many first aid books. Apparently one of the key features of the technique is that leaving the injured party there for a while allows the muscles around the joint to relax. When the injury happens, the muscles tend to tense up and given how painful the separation can be, the casualty has a hard time letting it relax. Once the muscles relax, the joint pulls itself into alignment. If it doesn't pop back in on its own, you can "turn the arm gently outward (thumb rotating outward, palm toward head) as you remove the weight" (quote from Wayne Merry's Official Wilderness First Aid Guide). Once reseated, the joint should not be used until the injured person sees a doctor. By the way, 5-10 lb sounds too light. Merry suggests 10kg (22lb). Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Evan Dallas wrote: . . . treating a dislocated shoulder . . . lays on his/her stomach . . . 5-10 pound weight tied to the wrist and the arm hanging straight down . . . "foolproof". No, it is not foolproof, but it is as good as you are going to get. We tried this once on the Kipawa. Dave had a very long and nasty swim in some IV on Buttonhook, which among other things, dislocated his shoulder. (He said that he was portaging, so I was surprised to have to fish him.) One of the other paddlers was an emergency room physician, who laid him out on this stomach along an elevated log, and weighted his dangling arm. After over an hour, the shoulder still did not go back in. The physician said that Dave was too tense, and that drugs would be needed to relax him before the shoulder would go back in. We didnt have any muscle relaxants with us (or any other drugs), so we had to bind up Dave and evacuate him. Thats when thing got interesting. We had get Dave to the other side of the river before we could walk him out. He was in no condition to try to hang on to a boat, and he figured that he could simply sit in his boat while we towed him across. We tried it, but a whirlpool caught him and dumped him. Ill never forget the look on his face looking up from under the surface. To make matters worse, when I laid back and pulled him out, I grabbed the rope with which we had bound his shoulder and arm, so we went round the whirlpool a few times with him in quite a bit of pain before I was able to get a proper grip on him. Another boat then pulled my boat across while I held on to Dave and tried to keep his face out of the water. He took in a lot of water, but kept pretty calm. Richard Culpeper http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
"Can anyone comment on the validity of this method? If this really works, this seems like a very worthwhile piece of information for touring kayakers." _________________________ This is the Stimson method recommended by Dr. Forgey in his book on Wilderness Medicine. Tom *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Evan posted: >Can anyone comment on the validity of this method? If this really works, >this seems like a very worthwhile piece of information for touring kayakers.< The last issue of Sea Kayaker Magazine has a good primer on shoulder dislocation anatomy as a sidebar to a safety article by Doug Alderson regarding a local paddler who dislocated his shoulder in Baynes Channel off Victoria/Oak Bay (Gordin's fav haunt). I've often wondered what I would do, both in a solo wilderness setting on-shore, or worse, an in-water (probably very rough water) shoulder dislocation scenario. The possibility of dislocating with an anterior-inferior dislocation and ending up in the water certainly makes a case for dressing for immersion as opposed to air temperature. Not sure what I'd do to relocate if I was in the water. I might try to put my arm over the bow of the kayak, kinda like one would use the rock-under-the-arm relocation method, but the later is frowned upon by medical personal as it causes the arm to relocate too quickly (or suddenly may be the word I'm looking for). Though, I'd sure want to have my shoulder pop back in sooner than later, especially after reading Doug Alderson's descriptive phraseology about the world of pain one is thrust into. If I was still seated upright in my kayak, I'd have a hard time attempting the self-reduction technique my mountain biker friends suggest, where one clasps their hands around their ipsilateral knee, which is bent at 900 and subsequently leans backward to provide reduction of the injury. I say a hard time, because I'm in a tippy kayak with an Ocean Cockpit. Maybe that Keyhole Cockpit isn't such a bad idea afterall. For on-shore situations where medical help was far removed and a self-reduction was being contemplated out of necessity, I might be tempted to down whatever relaxants and/or sleeping medication I had, after lying face down on a log using the relax/stretch/weighted arm pull method, and wait for spontaneous relocation as opposed to the self-help rotation and gentle self-pull methods. Heck, how about knocking yourself out with a good whack to the head. Then, asleep, there's a good chance of relocation. Of course, now we have a head injury to deal with (where that cordless, I need to drill a burr hole in my skull). Or, of course, there's the Mel Gibson method (probably not found in emergency medicine literature), where you just whack your dislocated shoulder against a door jam (or in this case, perhaps a tree or a 100 pound Nordkapp). I take it the name of the game with relocations is gentle, relaxed attempts, as opposed to anything severe or jerky (as usually portrayed in Hollywood movies). More seriously, one could try to hold a tree or pole-like object with the offending arm, then move one's body away from the arm in an attempt at an anatomic reduction. Maybe one could just sit and cry, pray, meditate, and wait for it to relocate on its own. Me? I'd probably start swearing, kick my paddle, and curse my luck at being nominated for yet another Darwin Award. As I don't carry lidocaine with antiseptic injection capability, if I can't relocate I better be able summon help eventually, somehow. Fortunately, nature gifted me with a very tight shoulder anatomy, so dislocations are a remote possibility (believe me, I've tried to dislocate both shoulders many times), allowing me to pursue rougher water paddling on my own terms over the years . The down side is all that tight space creates a lot of impingement potential. When I think about the complications that can arise from a dislocation, including neurovascular injury and possible (but rare) severe arterial damage and even loss of circulation, not to mention a life threatening rescue scenario if in the water, one should do all they can to avoid potential for this injury. Work on those low braces. Just a reminder that if you are attempting to help someone else who has a shoulder dislocation, the usual protocol is to say you know first aid, then offer assistance after receiving permission. If you have not been trained to provide the level of assistance you are wanting to give, make sure the victim understands your limitations. And, of course, if you are with your mates when one of them dislocates, yelling loudly at them about their bloody stupid high-brace isn't going to help them relax. Save that for after the post-reduction medical follow-up, when everything checks out okay again, and you can head off to the bar with your buds. Doug Lloyd Victoria BC *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:42 PDT