Non traumatic dislocation of shoulder with rupture of axillary vessel branch in a paraplegic patient: a case report.

Spinal cord injured (SCI) patients utilize the shoulder joints for wheelchair propulsion, for transfers in and out of wheelchairs and for wheelchair "push-ups" for pressure relief, to prevent pressure sores. Accurate incidence of shoulder dislocation in SCI patients is not known. A majority of the dislocations seen are secondary to trauma. A 66-year-old, T10 paraplegic since 1942, developed severe osteoarthritic changes in both shoulders and experienced nontraumatic, recurrent dislocation of his right shoulder with a rupture of the axillary vessel branch. This case is reported here because of its rarity.