Your shoulder is a complex area made up of a number of different bones and soft tissues. At the top sits your collarbone (clavicle), which is connected to your shoulder blade (scapula) at the acromioclavicular joint. Although these two areas are connected by your AC joint, your collarbone is at a much greater risk of injury compared to your shoulder blade due to its positioning atop the shoulder complex. Below, we take a closer look at injuries to these two areas of your shoulder and compare and contrast the care for each.
Collarbone Fractures
As we’ve talked about in a separate blog post, collarbone fractures are quite common in the grand scheme of bodily fractures, accounting for roughly 2.6 percent of all documented fractures. Because of its positioning at the top of the shoulder and its relative weakness due to this positioning, it doesn’t take much trauma for a collarbone fracture to occur. A fall on skis, a collision in athletics or a slip and fall onto the shoulder area are all common causes of collarbone fractures.
Collarbone fractures are especially common in younger patients, as the bone doesn’t fully harden until around the age of 20. In fact, one-third of all clavicle fractures occur in men between the ages of 13-20. Symptoms of a clavicle fracture involve significant pain in the shoulder, difficulty moving your shoulder, a visible bump over the fracture site or a sagging shoulder.
Shoulder Blade Fractures
Because the natural position of the shoulder blade makes it more protected from direct trauma, and due to its size and shape, a shoulder blade fracture is much more rare than a collarbone fracture. In fact, shoulder blade fractures only account for roughly one percent of all shoulder fractures, making them quite rare. If you’ve suffered enough trauma to fracture your shoulder blade, odds are you have additional shoulder damage or other injuries that will need to be addressed.
Scapula fractures are typically reserved for high-energy trauma, like a traffic accident. Symptoms of a scapular fracture include pain while the shoulder is at rest or in motion, swelling and severe bruising. While you may not know that you’re dealing with a shoulder blade fracture, it will be obvious that you have a significant shoulder injury that warrants medical attention.
Treating Collarbone And Shoulder Blade Fractures
Due to the nature of the injuries and the discomfort you’ll be in, you’ll likely present to an emergency department if you may have suffered either of these injuries. Your treating physician will conduct a physical exam before confirming the extent of your injuries with the help of an X-ray or a CT scan. Once your doctor has confirmed your diagnosis, they’ll start to walk you through your treatment options.
Fortunately, most collarbone and scapular fractures can be treated without surgery, so long as the fracture site is stable. Because of this, the first step in treatment usually involves protecting the area from additional injury by placing it in a sling or similar supportive device. This will help to hold the bones in place while healing runs its course. After a few weeks, your doctor will likely have you begin some gentle physical therapy exercises. Having your arm confined to a sling for an extended period can weaken the soft tissues in the area and restrict normal range of motion, so physical therapy will be needed to restore strength and flexibility in the region.
In rare instances, surgery may be needed to ensure that the bones heal as expected, but rest and physical therapy do the trick for most patients. Your doctor can walk you through the specifics of a surgical procedure should it come to this point, but odds are you won’t need it.
For more information about shoulder blade or collarbone fractures, or to talk to a specialist about any shoulder discomfort you’re experiencing, reach out to Dr. Holloway’s office today at (865) 410-7887.
