Clavicles

Looks like

An S-shaped rod of bone running across the top of the chest from the breastbone to the point of the shoulder, easy to feel under the skin.

What it does

Holds the arm out from the body like a strut and protects the nerves and vessels passing to the arm beneath it.

Keeping it well

Usually breaks in a fall onto the shoulder or outstretched hand; most heal in a sling. Skin tented by the bone end, a cold or numb arm, or breathlessness after the break needs urgent care.

Its parts

• Right clavicle
• Left clavicle

Related conditions

• Acromegaly
• Fractures
• Fragility fracture
• Frailty & falls in older age
• Frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis)
• Hyperparathyroidism
• Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease)
• Osteomalacia & rickets
• Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
• Osteoporosis
• Paget's disease of bone
• Polymyalgia rheumatica
• Sarcoma
• Shoulder dislocation
• Thoracic outlet syndrome
• Vitamin B1, C and other deficiencies
• Vitamin D deficiency