Abstract

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether intra-articular injection of local anaesthetic is an effective alternative to intravenous analgesia with or without sedation to facilitate reduction of acute shoulder dislocations. Eleven studies were considered relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these studies are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that intra-articular injection of local anaesthetic is a safe and effective method of providing procedural analgesia for the reduction of acute shoulder dislocations.