title: Five case studies of soldiers with painful clavicular fracture non-union.
abstract: We report a short case series of 5 servicemen who had sustained closed clavicular fractures, 4 of whom presented to our clinic with a painful non-union, and 1 required primary fixation for tenting of the skin. Our treatment consisted of open reduction and internal fixation of these non-unions. This resulted in all these men returning to duties with painfree shoulder girdles within 6 months. A complication in these cases was one of a prominent plate which rubbed on straps and required removal of the plate after union had occurred resulting once again in a painfree shoulder girdle and a return to full duties. We advocate early orthopaedic referral in cases of painful clavicular non-union and where appropriate, open reduction and internal fixation with the expectation of an early return to full duties with a pain free shoulder girdle.
authors.affiliation: MDHU Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002968:Clavicle / Q000293:injuries*; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal / Q000379:methods*; D017102:Fracture Healing; D005599:Fractures, Ununited / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D008889:Military Personnel; D011859:Radiography; D012017:Referral and Consultation