Subluxation
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Subluxation".

A subluxation may have different meanings, depending on the profession or specialty involved.

Medicine

A subluxation¹ is an incomplete or partial dislocation (Latin: luxatio)² of a joint or organ.¹ The World Health Organization considers a subluxation to be a "significant structural displacement, and therefore visible on static imaging studies."³

Orthopedics

A dislocation of any joint will usually need medical attention to help relocate or reduce the joint. Nursemaid's elbow is the subluxation of the head of the radius from the annular ligament. Other joints that are prone to subluxations are the shoulders, fingers, kneecaps, and hips affected by hip dysplasia. A spinal subluxation is relatively rare but can sometimes impinge on spinal nerve roots causing symptoms in the areas served by those roots.

Ophthalmology

A subluxation refers to ectopia lentis, an ocular condition characterized by a displaced or malpositioned lens within the eye.⁴ Although a relatively rare disorder, subluxated lenses are frequently found in those who have had ocular trauma and those with certain systemic disorders, such as Marfan syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and homocystinuria. Some subluxated lenses may require removal, as in the case of those that float freely or those that have opacified to form cataracts. More information can be found in the respective article(s).

Chiropractic

A vertebral subluxation is defined by chiropractors as a relatively common condition in which a spinal vertebra has lost its proper juxtaposition with one or both of its neighboring vertebrae. While not as extreme as a luxation, chiropractors believe they interfere with the nervous system. The WHO considers the degree of structural displacement to not necessarily be "visible on static imaging studies."³ More information can be found in the respective article(s).

References

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.