A Chinese woman recently had to have her jaw set back in place by a
doctor after she dislocated it by laughing too loudly. I guess laughter
really wasn’t the best medicine for her, quite the contrary.
The bizarre incident took place on September 1st, on a high-speed
train heading to Guangzhou South Railway Station. Doctor Luo Wensheng,
who had boarded the train in Kunming, the capital of south-western
Yunnan Province, was commuting to Liwan Hospital – part of Guangzhou
Medical University – when he heard an urgent appeal for medical
assistance being broadcast through the carriage speakers. He rushed to
help and found a female passenger who had her mouth open and was
drooling profusely, which indicated that she had suffered a stroke, but
he blood pressure was normal. It was only after speaking with
eye-witnesses that he learned that the woman had become unable to close
her mouth due to laughter.
“She was drooling, so I initially thought she had had a stroke,” Luo Wensheng told Guancha News. “But I took her blood pressure, then asked her some questions, and learned that she had actually dislocated her jaw.”
Unfortunately, Wensheng, who wasn’t an expert in this medical field,
was put in the uncomfortable situation of having to fix the poor woman’s
face. He told her that he would try to help her, but that there was a
high risk that he wouldn’t be able to set her jaw. Still, she wanted him
to try.
“The patient was quite nervous and her facial muscles were all very
tense, so it failed on the first attempt,” the doctor said. “I advised
her to go to a hospital instead, but train staff told us it would be
another hour. The passenger became very agitated and wanted her jaw set
right away, so I agreed to try again.”
This time around, Dr. Luo attempted to set her jaw was the patient
was distracted, and he was successful. Once again able to close her
mouth, the grateful woman thanked him and said that she had dislocated
her jaw once before, as a result of puking during her pregnancy.
Apparently, once you dislocate your jaw once, you are likely to do so
again, while yawning, laughing or just opening your mouth too much.
