“My son dislocated his shoulder. Is anesthesia needed for the repair?”
My 12 year old son dislocated his shoulder during a football game. Will they have to give him anesthesia when they put the shoulder back into place?
11 Answers
Yes
Just sedation.
Yes general anesthesia to fix it back
Dr. J. Arthur Saus
Anesthesiologist
Although it depends on the exact circumstances, putting the shoulder back into place will probably require heavy sedation or general anesthesia. With an injury such as you describe, the muscles around the joint strongly contract (or go into spasm) when the joint is disrupted. Administration of anesthesia will help those muscles relax, and will facilitate getting the shoulder back into joint correctly, and will a lot less effort and pain.
Quite often, the patient is given a very fast-acting anesthetic to relax the shoulder muscles enough to allow the shoulder to be guided back into the shoulder socket.
Yes
Probably sedation for relocation. Definitely anesthesia if surgery needed. Ask for a regional block, too.
For relocation of a shoulder, typically we utilize a combination of sedation plus a pain medication intravenously to assist in reducing the shoulder. If further surgical intervention would be required to repair any tendon or ligament damage, then usually a general anesthetic is utilized with a local anesthetic often added after surgery to enhance pain relief.
Closed reduction of a dislocated shoulder in young athletes may require intravenous drugs that attenuate anxiety, pain, and/or consciousness, as needed. The more stoic the athlete is, the less medication is required, and some may require nothing at all.
A very light anesthesia. A fracture is also a possibility and needs to be evaluated.
Yes, because it can be very uncomfortable without sedation or analgesia.
