Should you experience severe pain and issues with a particular bone or area of the body, you may not be sure whether a break has occurred or whether you are suffering a dislocation.
The break of a bone means a fracture has occurred in the bone itself; this could be a completely clean break or a portion of the bone may be broken away or become splintered or fractured.
Dislocation is when a bone moves out of the joint it is attached to, meaning that the issue and pain are located at the joint rather than the bone itself. This means your bone is still intact and that the bone can be popped back into the correct socket.
In the case of shoulder dislocation, the bone of your arm will become unattached from the socket joint of the shoulder.