Watch Out for Luxatio Erecta of the Shoulder

Luxatio erecta of the shoulder is a very rare form of gle-nohumeral dislocation, comprising 0.5% of all gleno-humeral dislocations ( Garrigues, Nagda, & Yu, 2011 ). It is often associated with rotator cuff tears, instability, chronic pain, and reduced motion ( Al-Saadi & Olsen, 2009 ). There is a high incidence of neurological damage ( Rae & Sylvester, 1988 ), axillary vein thrombosis ( Garcia, Ponsky, Brody, & Long, 2006 ), and posttrau-matic frozen shoulder that leads to a poor functional result ( Fry & Sommelet, 1987 ). The dislocation mecha-nism is often due to a violent hyperabduction force to the humerus with the arm locked in 110 °–160 ° of abduc-tion. Any movement of the arm causes intense pain ( Tracy & Myer, 2009 ). It is the purpose of this brief re-port to describe a case of luxatio erecta with clinical and educational images, giving attention to correct clinical and radiographic interpretation.