BROWN EMERGENCY MEDICINE BLOG

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Whit-ticisms: Osteophony, or How to Hear Broken Bones

There may be a time when you don’t *gasp* have an x-ray machine. Osteophony is a 19th century technique by which practitioners would use the acoustic properties of intact versus disrupted bone to determine if there was a fracture or dislocation. Extra points if you can get orthopedics to come see the patient based solely on osteophony!