LAMENESS: ITS CAUSES AND TREATMENT. 361 
One of the essentials of treatment, and probably an indispensable 
condition when recovery is in any wise attainable, is the suspension 
of the patient in slings. He should be continued in them so long as 
he can be made to submit quietly to their restraint. 
DISLOCATIONS. 
Dislocations and luxations are interchangeable terms, meaning the 
separation and displacement of the articulating surfaces of the bones 
entering into the formation of a joint. This injury is rarely en- 
countered in our large animals on account of the combination of 
strength and solidity in the formation of their joints. It is met with 
but seldom in cattle and less so in horses, while dogs and smaller 
animals are more often the sufferers. 
Cause—The accident of a luxation is less often encountered in the 
animal races than in man. This is not because the former are less 
subject to occasional violence involving powerful muscular contrac- 
tions, or are less often exposed to casualties similar to those which 
result in luxations in the human skeleton, but because it requires the 
cooperation of conditions—anatomical, physiological, and perhaps 
mechanical—present in the human race and lacking in the others, 
which, however, can not in every case be clearly defined. Perhaps 
the greater relative length of the bony levers in the human forma- 
tion may constitute a cause of the difference. 
Among the predisposing causes in animals may be enumerated 
caries of articular surfaces, articular abscesses, excessive dropsical 
conditions, degenerative softening of the ligaments, and any exces- 
sive laxity of the soft structures. 
Symptoms and diagnosis—Three signs of dislocation must usually 
be taken into consideration. They are: (1) An alteration in the 
shape of the joint and in the normal relationship of the articulating 
surfaces; (2) an alteration in the length of the limb, either shorten- 
ing or lengthening; (3) an alteration in the movableness of the joint, 
usually an unnatural immobility. Only the first, however, can be 
relied upon as essential. Luxations are not always complete; they 
may be partial; that is, the articulating surfaces may be displaced 
but not separated. In such cases several symptoms may not be 
present. And not only may the third sign be absent, but the mobility 
of the first be greatly increased when the character of the injury has 
been such as to produce extensive lacerations of the articular 
ligaments. 
In addition to the above signs, a luxation is usually characterized 
by pain, swelling, hemorrhage beneath the skin from damaged or 
ruptured blood vessels, and even paralysis, when important nerves 
are pressed on by the displaced bones. 
