Stay out of all sports and physical education. Do all exercises to prevent elbow and shoulder stiffness and to help with muscle strength. Go to physical therapy, if needed. Go to all follow-up appointments. Call your health care provider if your pain or swelling gets worse.
Will the Collarbone Heal Straight? This is usually when: There's no pain when the health care provider presses on the collarbone. Your shoulder strength is normal. You can move and use the arm and shoulder without pain. In general, people can go back to noncontact sports such as running or swimming in about 6 weeks and contact sports such as football, lacrosse, and hockey in 8—12 weeks.
Can Broken Collarbones Be Prevented? But to decrease your risk: When playing contact sports, wear all the recommended protective gear and learn the proper techniques for your sport. Keep your bones strong by eating a well-balanced diet. Be sure to eat lots of vegetables and foods that are rich in calcium and vitamin D to help build strong bones. Do strength training and stretching to build strong, flexible muscles. Muscles that are strong and flexible will help support your bones better and keep you agile and less likely to experience a hard fall.
A proper warm-up, including dynamic stretching exercises, can help your muscles perform at their best during play. Wear well-fitting, supportive footwear that's right for your sport. Looking Ahead Most broken collarbones heal quickly and completely. If you think you may have broken your clavicle, make an appointment today for an evaluation with Mirza Orthopedics.
Why are Clavicle Fractures Common? Who is most likely to have a clavicle fracture? These fractures are also more likely to happen in men older than 55 and in women older than Why are they common? What are its symptoms? Clavicle fractures often happen in the following ways: A fall directly on your shoulder with your arm at the side Car, motorcycle, or bike accident Contact sports like football Impact sports like horse racing Birth canal injuries to a baby during childbirth Less commonly, these fractures can also happen as the result of a direct blow or a fall on your outstretched hand.
How are they treated? Because of the critical location of the clavicle, any severe force on the shoulder, such as falling directly onto the shoulder or falling on an outstretched arm, transfers force to the clavicle. As a result, the collarbone is one of the most commonly broken bones in the body. When bones break , there is swelling due to bleeding from the blood vessels in and around the bone. There is also pain from the broken bone due to damage of microscopic nerve endings around the bone.
Sometimes the bone is broken enough to create an angle between the broken ends, which causes a deformity along the bone. Usually with a broken collarbone the pain and swelling are severe and there may be a visible deformity. Often there is pain at the site of the fracture with any attempt to move the arm. The only way to verify if there is a fracture is to get an X-ray of the area. If you think that the clavicle is broken, it is best to seek medical treatment right away.
The best way to treat the injury until you can reach a physician or emergency facility is to immobilize the arm and shoulder by holding the arm close to the body with the other arm or in a sling. You should put ice on the injured area for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, making sure not to freeze the skin. Pain medication such as Tylenol or over-the-counter nonsteroidal agents such as ibuprofen or naproxen Advil or Aleve, for example are acceptable.
The only time you should not take medication is if there is a break in the skin over the fracture, which indicates that the ends of the bones may have punctured the skin. In that case, the fracture may need surgery to clean out any dirt or debris. Other indications of more severe injury include tingling, numbness or weakness in the hand or arm. If the injury is near the sternum and you have shortness of breath or difficulty swallowing you should seek immediate medical attention.
The first thing the physician will do is take an X-ray to determine if the clavicle is broken, where the fracture is located and how many pieces it is broken into. Clavicle fractures are basically divided into three types based upon location. Fractures near the sternum are the least common less than 5 percent of all clavicle fractures. Fractures near the AC joint are the second most common and can come in many different patterns. The most common fractures of the clavicle are in the middle of the shaft of the bone, approximately halfway between the sternum and the AC joint.
The most common way to treat the fractures in the middle is with immobilization with either a sling or a special bandage called a figure-of-8 splint. Studies have shown that these fractures heal just as quickly and as well with a sling as with the figure-of-8 splint, so we recommend a sling in a majority of cases. The figure-of-8 splint is generally uncomfortable, difficult to wear nonstop for six or eight weeks and can result in skin problems and a smelly patient because it should not be removed to wash the armpit.
Figure-of-8 splints are not indicated or useful in fractures of the clavicle near the AC joint. However, some orthopaedic doctors have strong opinions about the use of this figure-of-8 device, and it can produce an acceptable result. The second thing that helps in the treatment of clavicle fractures is pain relief with cold therapy and pain medication.
It is recommended that you ice the fractured area for 15 to 20 minutes every two hours for as long as necessary to decrease the pain and swelling.
0コメント