09/07/2022
What medical techniques help diagnose shoulder blade fractures?
The shoulder blade connects the arm bone to the collarbone and chest wall, which is a triangular bone. There are many muscles around the shoulder blades, which protect, strengthen, and help move the bones. In fact, a shoulder blade fracture is very unlikely, only major trauma such as a traffic accident, sports injury or a fall can cause this condition.
1. Signs of shoulder blade fracture
When you break a bone, the main symptom that you often experience is swelling, pain, and bruising in the shoulder blade. Besides, you may have some other signs, such as:
- Injured to the arm, closer to the body than usual
- When moving the arm, the pain increases
- Can't raise my arm
- Due to the movement of the chest wall, the shoulder blades move and cause pain, so the patient feels pain after every deep breath
- Shoulder flattened or deformed
You should see your doctor if you experience the following symptoms:
- Feeling pain when moving the shoulder
- Shoulders are swollen
- There are bruises around the shoulder
- Within 3 to 5 days, shoulder pain does not improve
- Serious injuries to the shoulder, chest wall, back or neck can cause serious problems, so you need to go to the emergency room right away in these cases.
Contact an emergency room right away if you develop the following symptoms:
- The injured hand doesn't feel as good as before
- Shallow breathing
- Stomachache
- Shoulder deformity or severe pain
- In the injured arm, there is persistent tingling or weakness, numbness
Usually, a shoulder blade fracture occurs only when there is a serious injury with great force to the shoulder blade that causes the bone to break. Chest wall, lung, and shoulder injuries are involved in 80% of shoulder blade fractures. Some specific causes of shoulder blade fractures include:
- Motorcycle or car accident
- Fall and shoulder hit the ground hard
- Falling with arms outstretched
- Shoulder affected by a strong blow
2. Medical techniques to help diagnose shoulder blade fractures
The doctor will conduct a sensory examination in the affected area of the fracture to assess swelling, pain, deformity, open wound or not during examination. Then, the severity of the fracture will be determined and the location of the fracture will be marked to check for joint and nerve damage.
Your doctor will order a physical exam to see if your shoulder blades are misaligned if a broken shoulder blade is suspected. To diagnose this condition, your doctor will apply a number of medical techniques, such as:
- X-ray of shoulder joints and thorax
- Evaluation of other lesions through CT scan of the chest and abdomen
- Diagnosis of shoulder blade fracture through MRI or CT
3. Treatment of shoulder blade fracture
Treatments will be given depending on the severity and deviation of the fracture line.
- Conservative Treatment: Most shoulder blade fractures can be treated without surgery. In order for the bone to heal, the doctor will immobilize the shoulder by wearing an 8 collar that holds the collarbone for a while. However, the treatment of shoulder blade fractures has changed a lot in the past 10 years. For the conservative treatment of shoulder blade fractures, there are still some problems such as prolonged immobilization time, about 15 to 20% of cases do not heal the clavicle, about 15-20% of cases of bone healing. bad after conservative treatment, shoulder imbalance, raised shoulder blades, unsightly.
- Additionally, to help increase shoulder mobility and reduce stiffness and pain, your doctor will also recommend physical therapy. Until your doctor orders physical therapy, you'll also need to rest before that. You will need physical therapy until your shoulder is fully functional.
- Surgical treatment: You will be anesthetized during the surgery. Using specialized metal plates, screws, or wires, the surgeon will bring the bones back into alignment and possibly reattach them. You will also need rest and physical therapy until your shoulder is fully functional again after surgery. Only a few cases of shoulder blade fractures are indicated for surgery, including: Combined with displaced lateral clavicle fractures, broken clavicle shaft fractures with displaced fragment, complicated clavicle fractures (open fracture, vascular injury...) or after conservative treatment of shoulder blade fracture without bone healing. Today, surgical indications are expanded, along with the development of anesthesia, surgical instruments and tools, as well as surgical techniques. The doctor will make appropriate considerations based on the patient (age, occupation, mobility needs, comorbidities...) as well as fracture status (osteoporosis, characteristics of fracture area, fracture area) displacement, local software damage, coordination damage, etc.). Therefore, in order to examine and receive appropriate treatment, patients need to go to the trauma department of the hospital.
You rarely have unwanted risks with non-surgical treatment. However, you may experience some minor complications with surgical treatment, such as:
- Undesirable reactions to anesthetics
- Severe bleeding
- Infection
- Errors may occur during surgery
- Nerve injury
After 6 months to 1 year, people with successful shoulder blade fracture treatment can return to their daily activities.
Broken bones can heal but may not stay in place if left untreated. This causes pain, stiffness or difficulty in movement, a bump on the back of the shoulder blade.
