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By Michelle Lin
Medical Doctor
Specialty: Emergency Medicine
Blog: http://academiclifeinem.blogspot.com
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Michelle Lin's Twitter Updates

@precordialthump I totally forgot about the EKG library! Awesome stuff. Keep up the great work (when do you sleep?!) 258 days ago
@emeducation Perfect, thanks for the suggestions! Turns out one is co-authored by Jeff Tabas. He already gave them all books. 258 days ago
Recommendations for an EKG resource to review bread & butter cases for senior residents? Pre-graduation panic setting in for our residents. 258 days ago
@danipedia Good point. I use the studies to convince the trauma consults NOT to get c-spine imaging on EVERYONE (citing distracting injury)! 263 days ago
@doctorflash Hi there. Just wanted to drop a note to thank you for all the extra traffic you're sending to blog. Much appreciated!! 273 days ago
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Trick of the Trade: Captain Morgan technique for hip dislocation

Posted Dec 13 2011 12:00am

Relocation of a hip joint is often quite a sight to see in the ED. A commonly taught technique is the Allis maneuver (watch the first 45 seconds of the above video from the Medical College of Georgia). It has always seemed a bit precarious to me having someone stand on the patient's bed. 

Trick of the Trade:
Captain Morgan technique


You can apply 3 forces of axial traction to the femur.
  • Position the patient: 90 degrees of hip and knee flexion
  • Step one foot up onto the gurney Captain-Morgan style (flamboyant cape optional). 
  • Position your knee behind the patient's knee.
  • Ideally your foot should be resting on a hard surface like a backboard to allow your foot to push off of it.
  • Place one hand (A) under the patient's knee and the other (B) over the patient's ankle.
  • Use Hand A to lift up on the patient's femur.
  • Plantar-flex your ankle so that your propped knee can lift up on the patient's femur.
  • Very gently use Hand B to leverage-down on against the patient's tibia/fibula. 


TIPS FOR SUCCESS 
Pearls straight from "Captain" Hendey (Dr. Greg Hendey wrote the article):
  • Make sure to put the patient on a backboard and attach a strap over the pelvis to stabilize it to the board--this works far better than having some tech trying to lie across the patient, and it's better than tying a sheet around the gurney and the patient.  It also provides a firm place to put your foot.
  • Make sure to tuck your knee tightly under the patient's knee so that when you lift up on your tiptoes, all the force is transmitted into lifting the patient's hip.  If your leg is much shorter than your patient's leg, you may need to put a book under your foot to get your knee tucked under theirs.
  • Once you're lifting, keep a steady sustained force, just like any large joint reduction--no sudden jerky movements.  Once you feel it start to move, don't stop--sometimes people stop lifting too soon when they feel movement, but before the reduction has occurred.
  • If it's not moving, try rocking back and forth, and twisting the leg (internal and external rotation at the hip) while you're lifting.
Video 1: 
The provider does not use Hand A to lift up, although it seemed that he kind of wanted to. Note that he was stepping on the hard bed under the soft gurney mattress.


Video 2:
The provider shows you how you really need Hand A to help you to lift.



NPR interview with the article's author and my friend, Dr. Greg Hendey (UCSF-Fresno).


Thanks to Dr. Graham Walker for letting us know about this great pearl from his new Gmergency! Tumbler site .

Reference
Hendey GW, Avila A. The captain morgan technique for the reduction of the dislocated hip. Ann Emerg Med. 2011 Dec;58(6):536-40. Pubmed


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