Exercises for a collarbone fracture | Collarbone fracture – Follow-up treatment – Physiotherapy

Exercises for a collarbone fracture

During therapy after a collarbone fracture, various exercises are used to help the patient regain his or her strength as quickly as possible. These include, among others:

• This exercise can be performed with or without a bandage, depending on the stage of injury. Stand up and bend your upper body forward.

  Now make gentle pendulum movements with the arm of the injured side. Perform the exercise for about 30 seconds. 3 repetitions.

• Stretching of the shoulders Stand straight and upright.

  Hold a bar behind your back, shoulder width apart. Now raise your arms behind your back as far as possible until you feel a stretch. Hold this for 20 seconds.

• Mobility Stand or sit up straight and upright.

  Arms are loose beside your body. Now lift both arms sideways from your body as far as possible upwards (not beyond the pain threshold). Hold the arms for about 30 seconds and then return to the starting position.

  3 repetitions.

• Shoulder mobility Stand straight and upright. The arms hang loosely down the body. Now start slowly and in a controlled manner making small circular movements with your shoulders. 10 times forwards, then 10 times backwards.

Duration of therapy for a collarbone fracture

The total duration of the therapy is usually 6-8 weeks with no problems. With a good rehabilitation plan and consistent execution of the exercises learned, the patient regains full mobility and resilience within a short time (2-4 weeks) after removal of the bandage. Contact sports such as soccer or basketball can be started again from about 10 weeks after the injury.If you continue to experience problems or pain, talk to your doctor or physiotherapist to prevent consequential damage or further injury and delay the healing process.

Surgery after a collarbone fracture

In rare cases it may be necessary to surgically treat the broken collarbone. This is especially the case if it is an open fracture, the fracture is complicated or the fracture ends are far apart. In this case, the clavicle is usually fixed with a plate. To perform the operation, the skin above the fracture is opened through an incision of about 10 cm and the fragments are brought back into the correct position, where they are then fixed with the titanium or metal plate and screws. Regular check-ups after the operation guarantee healing without complications.