Shoulder injuries ranges from mild painful shoulder to severe fracture with multiple broken bone pieces of the proximal humerus bone. Injury, once happened, is already happened, and cannot be undone. The whole concept of getting the best result out of this situation revolves around how the injured shoulder is handled after the trauma. Let’s discuss the most important first aid tips to ensure best shoulder recovery.
First Aid for Acute Shoulder Injury
(1) Avoid Further Damage
The first and the foremost step is to take away the injured shoulder from the site of injury to prevent further damage. This is a very important step and need to be done as soon as possible. More the initial damage to the shoulder, worse the prognosis or final outcome is.
(2) Shoulder Immobilisation
Once the shoulder is off any kind of external damage, next we need to prevent internal damage. If there is fracture of the shoulder, the abnormal movements of the shoulder bones might damage any structure like nerves, vessels or tear muscles around. This is a kind of damage which can be purely avoidable. To achieve this, you need to immobilise the shoulder by a shoulder immobiliser. Non-availability of immobiliser can be an possibility in remote areas and wrap a bandage around the affected arm and chest, so that affected shoulder and arm do not move independently.
(3) Ice Packing
Shoulders are known to swell after any kind of injury. More the swelling is, severe the pain is. Therefore it is in the best interest of patient to minimize the chances of swelling occurrence. The best way to prevent as well as treat swelling is ice-packing. Apply ice over the shoulder. Take care, not to apply ice directly over the skin, as this may damage the skin. Keep a cloth layer in between.
(4) Contact Shoulder Surgeon
Next, rush for the best shoulder surgeon. The world is becoming smaller day by day with the improved transport and connectivity. People have been moving to larger cities like Ahmedabad in search of best shoulder surgeon for the best quality shoulder treatment. Your responsibility ceases once you are in touch with the shoulder surgeon. Searching online is the most effective tool available presently.
(5) Over The Counter Drugs
If there is a significant delay between trauma and reaching the shoulder surgeon, it is in patients interest to take some kind of analgesic drugs available in the nearest medical store. The shoulder injuries are severely painful and relieving pain not only comforts the patient, also prevents few potential complications which can happen because of severe pain.
Shoulder Injury – How to give first aid to the injured person?
A well-informed citizen can not only help himself and his family, but also society at large. For any further queries, feel free to contact Dr Vijay Bang, who has been helping the society at large in the field of shoulder problems.
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