Emergency Department Management of Selected Orthopedic Injuries

Rather than providing an encyclopedic review of extremity injuries, this article reviews selected serious injuries of the extremities that can be missed in the emergency department, either because they are relatively uncommon or because they are subtle in their clinical and radiographic presentation. They include injuries to the scapula, the shoulder, the forearm, the femur and hip, the knee, the tibia (which is the most common long bone fracture), and the ankle and foot. Their various causes include sports injuries, falls, and motor vehicle accidents. Several of these injuries can result in emergent complications or have time-dependent outcomes. Consequently, these injuries often must be managed by emergency physicians before specialist expertise becomes available.