Collarbone Injury From Fall

Although a collarbone injury after a fall is not as common as a fractured wrist or ribs, it is a common injury among adolescents and young adults, especially those that play contact sports. The collarbone connects the upper portion of the breastbone to a shoulder blade. A fractured collarbone not only significantly limits the mobility of the impacted shoulder, but also generates excruciating pain every time the shoulder moves in any manner.

What Are the Symptoms of Collarbone Injuries?

After a slip and fall accident, if you experience shoulder pain every time you move a shoulder, then you might have sustained a collarbone injury from a fall. Rapid swelling at the shoulder joint and or tenderness along the collarbone also might indicate a fracture. More serious cases of a collarbone injury after a slip and fall incident include a bulge developing on or near a shoulder, as well as hearing a crackling or grinding sound every time you move the affected shoulder. Long-term health consequences of a fractured collarbone concern a constant stiffness that makes it difficult to raise both arms above your head.

What Are the Most Common Causes of Collarbone Injuries?

Falling on your shoulder represents the most common cause of a collarbone injury. Without using your arm to brace for the impact of a slip and fall, the shoulders and hips are the first sections of the body that make an impact on the floor or ground. Falling from a scaffold at home or work is a frequent cause of collarbone injuries, as is slipping and falling to the floor of a business. A collarbone injury from a fall also can occur during a slip and fall when the shoulder hits a counter or another type of stationary object.

A strong impact on the shoulder during a sporting event is another common cause of a fractured collarbone.

What Are the Health Complications of a Collarbone Injury From a Fall?

Most collarbone fractures heal by stabilizing the shoulder. Keeping the collarbone stable by wearing a sling is the key for the injury to heal without the need to undergo surgery. However, some collarbone injuries develop complications that might require the completion of one or more surgical procedures.

Nerve and blood vessel damage results from the jagged edge of a broken collarbone penetrating the skin. Damage to either nerves or blood vessels can produce numbness that runs from the impacted shoulder through the arm and into the hand. A fractured collarbone that does not heal properly also might require surgery to fuse the fractured area. If a lump develops on the collarbone and it does not disappear over time, then surgery is required to remove the lump. Finally, a fractured collarbone can eventually lead to the development of osteoarthritis.

When you meet with a slip and fall lawyer at Morgan and Morgan for a free case evaluation, one of the first items on the agenda is for the attorney to review your case. Discovering the cause of a collarbone injury from a fall can help your lawyer determine whether another party committed one or more acts of negligence.

With more than three decades of litigating slip and fall lawsuits, the personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan have discovered four common causes of slip and fall accidents.

Slick Surfaces

When you think about a slip and fall, you probably attribute the accident to the presence of a wet floor. Businesses that include a beverage station, such as convenience stores or fast food restaurants, usually construct a beverage station in a high-traffic area of a store. Spilled beverages accumulate enough moisture to pose a safety hazard. Businesses owe customers a duty of care to dry mop wet floors as quickly as possible, as well as place a warning sign over a slick surface to alert customers to the danger of slipping and falling.

Slick surfaces also develop outdoors in front of businesses, particularly during the colder months of the year when precipitation changes from liquid to frozen.

Electrical Cords

Not every slip and fall involves a “slip.” You also can sustain a collarbone injury from a fall by tripping over an object. Electrical cords are a constant threat to cause trip and fall accidents because customers and visitors to businesses do not see the potential safety hazards running across a floor. Businesses that need to run electrical cords across a floor should take steps to conceal the potential safety hazards, such as using industrial-strength tape to cover the cords. Warning signs also help reduce the threat of a trip and fall accident.

Loose Carpet/Flooring

Loose flooring such as tiles contributes to a large percentage of slip and fall accidents. Businesses that do not repair damaged flooring breach the duty of care doctrine that requires them to prevent accidents from causing customers and visitors harm. Another trip and fall culprit is bunched-up carpeting. Just a minor aberration to a carpet might cause someone to trip and fall hard to the floor. Businesses also have to be aware of any rips in carpeting that can lead to a trip and fall incident.

Lack of Employee Training

Businesses that do not adequately train their employees to prevent slip and fall accidents run the risk of facing some type of legal liability. The National Institute of Occupational Safety (NIOS) provides an abundance of print and online resources that teach employees how to prevent slip and fall incidents. An employee safety training program should not just be a one-time event held during orientation. Employers should run ongoing workplace safety training sessions that include segments that involve learning how to prevent slip and fall accidents.

Employees also should know how to treat various injuries, such as a collarbone injury from a fall.

You have two ways to recover the financial losses generated by a slip and fall incident. First, you should file a claim with the other party’s insurance company. Second, you can file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. Filing a personal injury lawsuit requires you to take legal action before the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Each state has established a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. Most states have set the statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits between two and four years. However, you might live in a state that has established a deadline as long as six years from the time of the accident—or even as short as one year. The personal injury attorney that you work with from Morgan and Morgan advises you on how long your state allows you to file a personal injury lawsuit. Regardless of how long you have, the clock typically starts ticking for a personal injury lawsuit on the day when you sustained one or more injuries caused by a slip and fall incident. The exception to this rule is when a victim develops delayed symptoms.

Even one year is plenty of time to file a personal injury lawsuit. Nonetheless, you should act with a sense of urgency for two reasons. First, you are on the financial hook for all expenses related to your slip and fall accident. Filing a personal injury lawsuit as quickly as possible helps you recover financial losses sooner than if you wait to file a lawsuit until near the deadline. Second, your personal injury attorney wants to speak with witnesses close to the date of the slip and fall accident to receive the most accurate version of events.

Take action to recover the financial losses attributed to a collarbone injury from a fall by scheduling a free case evaluation with a slip and fall lawyer at Morgan and Morgan.