Lunate Dislocation Followed by Non-Traumatic Swimming: A Case Report

Abstract

A few numbers of patients admitted to the emergency department due to the lunate dislocation can cause a direct injury to the wrist ligament, which mainly occurs after wrist trauma, and often diagnosis is far from the mind. A 32 years old man due to severe pain and tenderness of the wrist started the previous day during swimming, referred to Emergency Department of Imam Reza Hospital of Mashhad, 2012. He did not recall any history of direct trauma to the wrist. However, he was prescribed NSAID and wrist splint, but the pain did not improve. In physical examination, the localized tenderness of the dorsal wrist without erythema and warmness was clearly evident and paresthesia of the skin was observed in the 4th and 5th fingers. Plain X-ray detected no fractures. The combination of these signs and symptoms prompted clinical suspicion of lunate dislocation confirmed by imaging. This patient was admitted to the orthopedic service with lunate dislocation diagnosis for the proper treatment.

Keywords: Lunate dislocation, Diagnosis, Median nerve injury