14 Dec Broken Collar Bone
The technical term for a broken collarbone is a fractured clavicle.
Typically a collarbone is broken from falling directly onto your shoulder or falling with your arm outstretched which puts pressure higher up at the collarbone causing it to break. This is a common injury with cyclists who may crash and fall over the handle bars.
Some signs that you may have broken your collarbone include:
- You heard a crack or snap sound
- Your shoulder may droop or look different to your other shoulder
- You feel you need to cradle your arm with your opposite arm
An X-ray will determine if you have indeed broken your collarbone!
Depending on the type and position of the fracture, it will be recommended to immobilise your arm in a sling so that the bone can heal & sometimes a surgery is required to help realign the broken ends of the bone. The middle part of the clavicle is the most common area that fractures because it is the thinnest part of the bone.
I’ll share some of the exercises that I typically recommend for a broken collarbone throughout the different stages of healing in the next few posts.
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