77. Reduction by the bladder is also celebrated in dislocations at this joint, and I have seen certain persons who, from ignorance, attempted to reduce both dislocations outward and backward therewith, not knowing that they were rather displacing than replacing the parts; it is clear, however, that he who first invented this method intended it for dislocation inward. It is proper, then, to know how the bladder should be used, if it is to be used, and it should be understood that many other methods are more powerful than it. The bladder should be placed between the thighs uninflated, so that it may be carried as far up the perineum as possible, and the thighs beginning at the patella are to be bound together with a swathe, as far up as the middle of the thigh, and then a brass pipe is to be introduced into one of the loose feet of the bladder, and air forced into it, the patient is to lie on his side with the injured limb uppermost. This, then, is the preparation; some, however, do the thing worse than as I have described, for they do not bind the thighs together to any extent, but only at the knees, neither do they make extension, whereas extension should be made, and yet some people by having the good fortune to meet with a favorable case, have succeeded in making reduction. But it is not a convenient method of applying force, for the bladder, when inflated, does not present its most prominent part to the articular extremity of the femur, which is the place that ought to be more especially pressed outward, but its middle, which probably corresponds with the middle of the thigh, or still lower down, for the thighs are naturally curved, being fleshy, and in contact above, and becoming smaller downward, so that the natural configuration of the parts forces the bladder from the most proper place. And if a small bladder be introduced, its power will be small, and unable to overcome the resistance of the articular bone.
But if the bladder must be used, the thighs are to be bound together to a considerable extent, and the bladder is to be inflated along with the extension of the body, and in this method of reduction both legs are to be bound together at their extremity.
