A subluxation is an incomplete or partial dislocation of a joint or organ.
The term is used in the fields of medicine, dentistry, and chiropractic. There is no scientific evidence for the existence of chiropractic subluxations or proof they or their treatment have any effects on health.
Medical
Joints
A subluxation of a
joint is where a connecting bone is partially out of the joint.
[ Page 107 in: ] In contrast to a luxation, which is a complete separation of the joint, a subluxation often returns to its normal position without additional help from a health professional.
[ page 63 in: ] An example of a joint subluxation is a nursemaid's elbow, which is the subluxation of the head of the radius from the annular ligament. Other joints that are prone to subluxations are the
,
,
patella, ribs, wrists, ankles, and hips affected by hip dysplasia. A spinal subluxation is visible on X-rays and can sometimes impinge on
spinal nerve roots, causing symptoms in the areas served by those roots. In the spine, such a displacement may be caused by a
fracture, spondylolisthesis, rheumatoid arthritis,
severe
osteoarthritis, falls, accidents and other traumas.
Ophthalmology
A subluxation of the lens within the
Human eye is called
ectopia lentis, wherein it is displaced or malpositioned.
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, Loeys–Dietz 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
.
Dental
A subluxation of a tooth is a
injury in which the
tooth has increased mobility but has not been displaced from the
mandible or
maxilla. This is a common condition and one of the most common dental traumatic disorders.
Dental subluxation is a non-dental-urgency condition, i.e., unlikely to result in significant morbidity if not seen within 24 hours by a
dentist,
and usually treated conservatively: good
oral hygiene with 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate
mouthwash, a soft and cold diet, and avoidance of
smoking for several days.
In
toothache situations, a temporary splinting of the injured tooth may relieve the
pain.
Subluxation may also occur in the mandible from the articular groove of the temporal bone.
Chiropractic
Unlike real subluxations, the
pseudoscience concept of a
chiropractic "vertebral subluxation" may or may not be visible on x-rays. Nor may it involve a significant displacement or even pain or clear dysfunction.
Straight chiropractors claim that vertebral subluxation has considerable health effects and also add a visceral component to the definition. Mainstream medicine and some mixer chiropractors consider these ideas to be pseudoscientific and dispute these claims, as there is no scientific evidence for the existence of chiropractic subluxations or proof they or their treatment have any effects on health.
