ClavicleThe Clavicle is a curved anterior bone of the shoulder (pectoral) girdle in the body, It functions as a strut to support the shoulder.
Fracture of the ClavicleThese fractures are common: They are due to sport injuries, to fall onto the shoulder or on to the outstretched arm or road traffic accidents. Sportsmen at risk include participants of ice hockey, martial arts, gymnastics, weight lifting, wrestling, squash, boxing and many more. They are also common in newborn or young children.
There are many forms of treatment from conservative to surgical. The surgical treatment is by open reduction with plate and screws or k-wire as the case maybe. The bone is aligned in the natural anatomical position and a metal plate is inserted and screwed in position by compression of the broken ends together. This will help the healing process quickly and efficiently. Movement is encouraged as the pain subsides. Simple analgesia can be used until the pain subsides. The arm on the affected side is kept in a sling for an average of three weeks.
This is an old fracture of the clavicle with some displacement as seen on the top x-ray.
This fracture was fixed for the patient with plate and screws. First the fractured bone was aligned with two compression screws and a seven holes plate was used with four screws to strengthen the clavicle.
This is an X-ray of fractured clavicle repaired with a plate and screws.
