Clavicle Fracture ORIF

Please take your prescription pain medication for the first 24 hours as directed. After the first day or two, as the pain lessens, you may decrease the frequency with which you take the medication. Remember, the medications are not necessarily meant to completely eliminate your pain, only to make it more bearable. 

Narcotic pain medications can cause constipation; I recommend using Senokot-S, an over-the-counter stool softener, 1 tab twice a day to help prevent this.  You can increase to 2 tabs twice a day as needed.  In addition Miralax or Milk of Magnesia can be used if no results with the Senokot-S.

If you are having minimal pain and would like to switch to a milder medication, please take Tylenol/acetaminophen (extra strength or regular). Do not take Tylenol and norco together (this would be too much acetaminophen). Do not exceed more than 4000mg of Tylenol/acetaminophen in a 24 hour period.

Use ice or a cold therapy unit constantly for the first 48 hours, then as frequently as needed.

You will have a soft dressing applied over your incision. It is meant to absorb any leaking blood or fluid from the surgery, and to protect from infection. Leakage immediately after surgery is normal and actually helps to drain some of the blood from surgery. The dressings may become moist or minimally blood-stained; this is normal and usually not a cause for alarm.

You may remove your dressing 2 days after your surgery to take a shower. For showering, you may remove your entire sling and let your arm rest at your side. Under the surgical dressing, you will have absorbable sutures under little white steri-strips. Please leave the strips in place until they fall off on their own or until they are removed at your first post-op appointment.

You may let soap and water gently wash over your incision, you don’t need to scrub.  Pat the incision dry with a clean towel and it can be left open to air.  If there is any drainage, you can cover the incision with gauze and tape.

You may not soak your shoulder in a bathtub or go into a pool or hot tub until incisions are well healed (usually 3-4 weeks).

Therapy typically starts within 2-3 week(s) after surgery. Your therapy protocol will be faxed to your physical therapist, but you can also ask your therapist to visit www.healthy-txt.com/drsostak for the therapy protocol.   Most patients go to physical therapy 2-3x/week for about 4-6 weeks.

Your first post-op visit will be scheduled 7-10 days after surgery.  At this visit, we’ll check your incisions and answer any questions you may have. A few x-rays of the shoulder will be obtained at this first post-op visit.

Please call our office at (630) 584-1400 if you develop a fever greater than 101°F, increasing pain that is not responding to pain medication, redness around incisions or shoulder, increased swelling, persistent bleeding or drainage, or drainage other than clear fluid or blood.

It is normal to develop bruising to the operative arm. Some people have bruising across the chest all the way down to the hand. It can also be normal to develop swelling to the arm and hand. Gravity tends to pull fluid down the arm- your body will be able to reabsorb this fluid but it may take a few weeks. If the swelling becomes increasingly painful and more tender to the touch, please let our office know.

You may drive once you have stopped the narcotic pain medication and can comfortably move your shoulder to at least shoulder height. You should not wear a sling while driving. Typically it will be 2-4 weeks before you can safely drive.

The sling should be worn at all times when you are up and walking around. While you are sitting/resting, you may remove the sling occasionally as long as your upper arm/shoulder stays near your body. Typically the sling will be worn for 2-3 weeks total.

This depends on the nature of your job. If you have a desk job or can work from home, you may be able to do computer/phone work within 1 week of surgery.

If you have a labor-intense job, or job that requires heavy lifting/repetitive use of your shoulder, you may need to be off work for a few months. We can give you work restriction notes at each post operative visit if necessary.

Dr. Sostak Clavicle ORIF