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Chapter 8

The Wing: An Overview of

Wing Injuries

III FLIGHT FIRST surfaces not just their trailing edges. Witness the con-
trolled stall employed by a cormorant or Canadian
The fi rst consideration when treating an injured wing goose moments before touchdown; this is achieved by

is whether it can be made to fly again. If a damaged the combined upward rotation and forward cupping

wing cannot be repaired, the bird is not fit to be of the wings, causing them to behave like air brakes.
released, although there may be a place for such dis- Capsular tissues join the bone ends that form the
abled individuals in a game park or zoo. It must also joint cavity, and the interior synovial lining provides

be remembered that even minor hard or soft tissue the specialized fluid that lubricates and nourishes
wing injuries can adversely affect one or more control the articular cartilage. Ligaments provide additional
surfaces. Although not crippling, such injuries do support but more importantly set the limits to joint

require fine adjustments of the control surfaces on the motion. Thus it is highly improbable that any substan-
opposite wing and sometimes of the tail as well. These tial dislocation can occur without an accompanying
adjustments require practice to perfect. Thus fi nal ligament injury (sprain).
release should be delayed until there has been an Perhaps the best known wing sprain occurs to the
opportunity for a number of short, low-level test propatagial ligament, which constitutes the leading edge
fl ights. of the wing fold situated between the shoulder and
carpus, termed the propatagium.
III BONE, JOINT, AND
LIGAMENT INJURY III MUSCLE AND TENDON INJURY

Modern-day passenger aircraft configure their wings, The most serious injuries (gunshot, laceration, punc-

or more specifically their control surfaces, to suit exist- ture, and strain) are to the flight muscles, the pectorals

ing flight conditions such as takeoff, climbing, turning, and supracoracoideus. The supracoracoideus tendon is
descending, and landing. Some fighter aircraft can especially vulnerable to strain or blunt force trauma as

sweep their wings backward to reduce drag during it passes through the triosseal canal. Birds with serious

supersonic flight and then spread them to land. Birds, supracoracoideus strains may be misdiagnosed with

too, can modify their wing configurations but to a humeral joint fractures or a nonspecifi c nerve injury.
much greater extent. Hawks, for example, can ride Birds with fracture-dislocations usually have some
vertical air currents, called thermals, for minutes degree of accompanying supracoracoideus injury.
without ever flapping their wings. Taking fl ight control

one step further, hummingbirds and terns are capable
of hovering, either to feed in the former instance or to III VASCULAR AND NERVE INJURY
observe potential prey in the latter.
The source of this sophisticated flight lies in a bird’s Although it is possible to radiographically diagnose

ability to use one or the other of its wings as control avian vascular injuries, primarily thromboembolic
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