Knowledge and awareness level about radial head subluxation mechanism among Saudi population living in western region of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: There is a scarcity of published studies on the Saudi population’s knowledge of radial head subluxation. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of Saudi community awareness regarding pulled elbow. Methods: A cross -sectional study was done on 396 Saudi residents. An online questionnaire was used to collect data about participants’ demographic characteristics and their knowledge about radial head subluxation, mechanism of injury, and how to deal with it. Results: 47% of the participants had heard of radial head subluxation, 32.7% studied it, and 32.2% heard about it through friends or family members. Only 23.1% heard about it via doctors. Males and 1-5 year-old children are the most commonly affected, according to 21.2% and 63.1% of participants , respectively. The majority of participants (68.9%) properly identified the case presentation as pain at the injury site, 61.6% identified the case as being diagnosed by clinical examination. Of them, 50.8% correctly identified the cause as children being heldby their hand or forearm and 19.4% have had to deal with an elbow subluxation. Only 44.7% identified the hospital management as the professional management of this situation and 15.4% of the participants had a good level of knowledge regarding radial head subluxation. Participants who were medical practitioners or studying medical sciences, and who had already heard about elbow subluxation or dealt with a case of elbow subluxation, had a significantly higher percentage of having good knowledge. Conclusion: There is a need to raise Saudi community awareness regarding elbow subluxation through community-wide health education campaigns. Keywords: knowledge, radial, head, subluxation, Saudi, western