Dislocated collarbone

[user1465146157]

My dad who is aged 76, has COPD and dementia

He had a fall at home and has dislocated his collarbone. He went to hospital and was sent home with a papery sling and told to take paracetamol.

Is this normal?

He’s clearly in some discomfort but I don’t know much about it - does it just heal itself?

Surely he needs some aftercare?

If anyone knows anyone who’s suffered this kind of injury before be great to hear from you

Thank you

Dd2 broke her collarbone - proper break with a massive gap. Interesting chat to the doc who explained that they are a bit pointless really in terms of human beings. Sling and painkillers and four of five days of pain. They only really do anything if it’s compound fracture.
I was boggled. It wasn’t much fun. But sure enough, after a week it was less painful and after four or five weeks she could pretty much use her arm again.
He will find it enormously painful for a bit though. Will he be able to look after himself with one arm? It was a bit of a nightmare for dd2 (she has cp) but dementia is a whole other ball game. Poor dad.

You can't really dislocate a collar bone as such but you could dislocate one of the joints either end of the collar bone, i.e. the acromioclavicular joint or the sternoclavicular joint. With the exception of a sternoclavicular joint that has dislocated backwards (a rare injury that usually requires treatment), most of these are left to heal by themselves, even in fit young people. Was he given a leaflet or discharge summary before he left hospital?

Thanks so much for your replies

We believe it’s a dislocation at the top of the shoulder but they called yesterday and said it’s also slightly fractured in the middle.

Again it’s not something they will operate on given his age and condition so just have to wait 6-7 weeks which is going to be tough.

No leaflet but they said they’d post a summary.