Fractured Clavicles: This Common Car Accident Injury Is a Major Pain
When people began to ask about your injuries following your serious car accident, you may have been a little frustrated with their reaction when you mentioned your broken collarbone.
“Oh, that’s not such a bad injury! You’re lucky!”
You know that yes, you are lucky to be alive, but that does not make your injury any less painful or inconvenient. You were doing the right thing by wearing your seat belt. It saved your life—but a fractured clavicle is still not an injury anyone wants to deal with.
The collarbone connects the upper part of the breastbone to the shoulder blade, so it is in a prime location to be snapped from the force of a pressing seat belt in a car accident. The most common way to treat a fractured collarbone is to wear an arm sling, so unfortunately, many injured individuals are forced to live their lives without the use of one of their arms for quite a while. The average healing time is three to six weeks for children and six to twelve weeks for adults. If the bone breaks through the skin, shatters into multiple pieces, or is very out of place, surgery may be necessary and doctors will probably need to use screws, rods, or plates to ensure your bone heals properly.
Broken collarbones may keep you out of work for a while, but if treatment goes smoothly, you should be good as new within a few months. There are, however, complications that can arise which can seriously impact your healing time.
- Injuries to nerves or blood vessels. There are many nerves and blood vessels that surround the collarbone and it is possible for the bone’s jagged ends to cause some major damage. If you feel numb or cold, you need to mention this to your doctor right away.
- Infection. If the bone broke through your skin, this automatically exposes the bone and your wound to any germs that are floating around. It is possible for the injury site to become infected—even in situations where doctors handle their treatment as quickly as they can.
- A bone lump. In some ways, a lump on the bone is a good thing because it shows that your collarbone is fusing back together and healing. However, this lump can also be pretty easy to see through your skin and some people may feel a bit deformed. These lumps usually go away over time, but some people are left with a permanent lump under their skin.
A clavicle fracture is a painful injury, but you may be able to receive compensation to pay for your medical bills, time out of work, and other damages. Speak with car wreck Attorney Steve Lee and schedule your free consultation today.
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