r/Orthopedics

Hi guys, last Tuesday I (36m) broke my collar bone during a dad's race at my daughter's Sports Day.

When I went to A&E, there was no consultant available who specialises in shoulder injuries. So I was given an x-ray, a sling and sent on my way to await a review.

I was told that I may need surgery and that I would discuss this with the consultant and to think about what I would want.

Since then, I've spoken to two friends who each broke their collar bones some years ago. One had surgery and one didn't. The one who did not have surgery said that he was still suffering with issues like pain and reduced strength and flexibility. The friend who had surgery said his recovery went very well and was back riding a bike 3-4 weeks post operation.

I get that this is a sample size of two people though. So I wanted to ask, those of you that have had a broken collar bone, did you have surgery or not? How was your recovery? Do you wish things had gone the other way?

Any thoughts welcome and appreciated.

Is anyone on here that can give me advice ?

Hi everyone,

Ultrasound report:
Possible LHBT tear (MRI recommended)
Subscapularis insertional tear (12×4×4 mm)
Supraspinatus tear (7×6×3 mm)
Positive impingement
Infraspinatus intact

My symptoms are:
Constant loose/hanging feeling whenever my arm isn’t supported.
Clicking/catching.
Front shoulder pain with certain curling movements.
Tightness in external rotation.

What’s confusing me is that I have no pain on the lift-off test or belly-press test, and my physiotherapist says I have almost full ROM except external rotation. A walk-in doctor also felt these were probably small partial tears based on my function.

Questions:
Can a subscapularis tear still have a negative lift-off and belly-press test?
Does a 12×4×4 mm insertional tear automatically mean it’s high-grade, or could it still be a small partial tear?
Has anyone had ultrasound findings like this that looked better on MRI?
Would you continue physiotherapy while waiting for the MRI?
Thanks!

I recently fell on my arm playing basketball and the doctor said I had a minor elbow fracture. The thing is, after about 4 days now, Some range of movement is back and I am able to do a decent amount of daily activities without pain just stiffness. I have an ortho date set but probably wont be able to get in for a couple weeks as im going on a vacation in around a week and will be gone for the most of july. I bought a splint just in case, but is it bad idea to go without it? I dont feel any pain unless I do strenuous activities

Okay, so on the 4th yesterday i was messing with friends drunk as usual. We were testing how hard we could punch each other on the shoulder. My friend went first and everything was fine. I went after and immediately after punch my wrist hurt like hell and i had to grab it in pain much to my embarrassment and jokes to everyone lol.

i was pretty drunk at that point and carried on with the night, going swimming, playing games and then hitting bars. i did notice any major motion in my wrist hurt, it hurt to grip hard and i could dap people up but it hurt to do so.

i woke up this morning hungover and worse yet, my wrist still really hurts. like its a dull aching pain still but when i try to curl my hand into a fist and move my wrist majorly it hurts a lot more. there's no visible swelling or deformity.

don't have health insurance so i don't really want to see a doctor, like i can still type on my phone and ever no problem like right now. internet told me to push down on my snuffbox and that does hurt so i'm a little worried, but i'm like no way i broke my wrist punching my friend in the shoulder righhtt

We are a group of orthopedic surgeons who have been looking for a better way to digest orthopedic literature and make practice-changing evidence easier to find and interpret. The corpus of orthopedic literature is too large for anyone to properly synthesize when making clinical decisions. There has been some movement in this realm lately with advances in AI, but still nothing felt like a good one-stop hub for orthopedic surgery.

So over the past year my colleagues and I built something we felt like we needed: cortexorthopedics.com, which indexes the orthopedic literature, ranks papers on study design and methodological quality, and publishes evidence reports on surgical topics, each one structured and fully cited to PMIDs with direct quotes from the evidence within each citation.

- You can ask clinical/technical questions directly on the home page and get an answer instantly with direct citations from the literature. There are also sections for:

- Landmark Ortho Trials (foundational papers with structured interpretation)

- Recent Ortho Literature (a daily feed of newly published ortho literature, with interpretation and key findings)

- Evidence Report generator if you want to do a deep dive on a specific topic or question. And the evidence reports are rigorously and repeatedly verified against the primarily literature to make sure all the claims are supported and valid.

We are very interested to get feedback from anyone who tries it out. We've built out a paid tier for those who want access to the more rigorous evidence reports, but the main features are free for all users.

Hey everyone,

I'm 24M and work as an Assistant Director in the film industry. For the last 6 months, I've been dealing with lower back pain, and it has slowly gotten worse.

From April to June, I worked on five projects back-to-back. If anyone here works in film, you probably know how crazy the hours can get. As an AD, I'm standing, walking, and running around for 15+ hours a day, sometimes even longer depending on the call sheet. I never really thought much about it until the pain became unbearable.

About a month ago, I finally went to an orthopedic doctor. He said the muscles around my L5–S1 area have been under a lot of pressure. He told me to fix my posture, start physiotherapy regularly, and stay consistent with the exercises he prescribed.

After that, I tried understanding my condition better by researching and discussing what my doctor said with ChatGPT. From what I understood, it could be something like reduced lumbar lordosis (a straighter-than-normal lower back curve), but I'm not claiming that's my diagnosis—it's just what seemed to match my doctor's explanation.

The frustrating part is that the pain is inconsistent. Some days I can manage it, and other days it's so bad that I can't even sleep comfortably. It's starting to affect my mental health too because I'm only 24, and my job literally depends on being on my feet all day.

I'm doing what the doctor recommended, but I'm still scared. Has anyone here been through something similar? Did physiotherapy actually help? Were you able to get back to normal? Any advice, recovery stories, or even words of encouragement would mean a lot right now.

Thanks for reading. 🥹

Sorry for the long post, but there is a fair story ...

Back in 2021 I fell off a bicycle whilst travelling at a speed or around 20mph. I landed on my right thigh, which took the brunt of the impact about half way between the hip and knee as it met a tree root. I was seen in an acute injuries clinic and they identjfied I had additional minor soft tissue damage to my legs. I haf some tingling sensations in my right calf and a DVT risk assessment came back as low, staff were happy with my circulation at the time.

I had a bad bruise at the main impact site and the haematoma took over 8 months to resolve with physical therapy at 3 months and 6 to 9 months post injury. During an ultrasound scan by a physio 6 months after the injury was told I have some calcification of the muscle and some evidence of rupture.

About 18 months after the original injury, I still had a lump (18cm x 8cm) at the site of the impact and I also was aware of some tenderness in my right hip. I saw an orthopedic surgeon who had an MRI done and I was told I had trauma to my spine (referred pain in hip) and the lump was linked to the trauma to the muscle and further physio was reccommended. The orthopedic surgeon mainly seemed impressed my femur was intact.

I did another course of physiotherapy following the ortho consultation. During massage my lump would disappear but during exercise it would reappear. Walking up stairs or riding a bicycle was a guarantee the lump would pop out. When the lump is prenounced I feel like there is an elastic band around my thigh and the discomfort impedes mobility and I end up with a lop-sided gait. I applied a compression/support bandage mid thigh and with this I was able to exercise without the lump forming. I continued this bandage use for about 9 months. During this time I also learnt I could pop it back in by using a foam roller to apply pressure whilst extending my leg.

Then I developed psoratic arthritis in early 2024 (high disease activity) and the lump became rather academic. I struggled with all exercise and I couldn't tolerate the compression sleeve as it increased muscle fatigue and gave me pins and needles. Stiff joints plus reduced sensation was causing me to fall and it became dangerous so I stopped using the compression sleeve. That said, I also wasn't active enough for it to be an issue.

The 9 months of compression has helped my lump, it is smaller now (15cm x 5cm) and doesn't pop out so readily. I am finally on a medication that seems to be working for my arthritis, with more good days I want to be more active, but more activity makes the muscle more of an issue, my fitness is also crap after 2.5 years of battling the arthritis and for a good portion of that unable to walk more than a few meters. I am still using aids for stability as I build strength and I am not yet able to tolerate the compression bandage again. So, when I do walk, this lump pops out and makes it tricky for me to use my right leg.

I also suffer from Raynaulds syndrome, migraines, skin psorasis, asthma, eczema, and PTSD. I have evidence the arthritis is linked to digestive issues, bladder symptoms, eye issues and mouth dryness. I take a small pharmacy's worth of supplements, anti-depressants, beta blockers and methotrexate, sometimes adding steroids into the mix.

Is there likely to be a permenant "cure" for my troublesome lump? If so do you think surgery is likely? Are you able to give an indicative recovery time for a "normal" person (my athritis obviously makes any recovery time more unpredictable).

I’m 22 years old
PAO isn’t possible in my case - the doctors say it’s up to me to make the decision between osteotomy and hip replacement

What speaks for the triple osteotomy is keeping my own joint longer (I’ll eventually need a hip replacement, but later in life) which is advice but that’s the only thing for me personally which speaks for the operation

Contra side is four medium/large scars (I’ll also need a femoral osteotomy), a long recovery and still having the risk to not be pain free afterwards

And that’s the main point which makes me rather want the total replacement now than to gain a few extra years (10/20/30?) with my natural joint but still be at risk of being in pain - even though I have to switch it probably sooner/more often

I know that there are also negative sides of the replacement but right now I can’t see that the triple osteotomy is the better choice

The condition of left my hip is as followed:
- LCEA: 15°
- Borderline dysplasia on the right (LCEA 24°)
- Mild superolateral femoral head decentering/subluxation
- Degenerative anterosuperior labral tear
- Focal cartilage thinning
- Focal cartilage defects in the weight-bearing zone
- Subchondral bone marrow edema
- Subchondral cysts in the acetabular roof
Joint space: 2 mm
SI joints normal

Now my question is - has anyone been in a similar situation (with a similar hip condition?) and regretted choosing the osteotomy over the hip replacement/the other way around?

So radiologists had different opinions on my it and i wouod like to know yours thank u

First nothing just tech neck

Second disc dehydration

http://78.38.18.93/study/HisLinkToPacs/WebViewer/7b511ed0986f12378fa20df5b905fca9/308564

Hi everyone,
I had a right shoulder SLAP repair on August 5, 2025. About 1 month after surgery, I developed a mechanical clicking/popping sensation around my AC joint/clavicle area, and it has continued for almost 9 months despite consistent rehab.

The click happens mostly when I raise my arm forward, especially in the first 0–30 degrees of flexion, sometimes up to around 60 degrees. It feels like something is slightly stuck or misaligned, then suddenly “pops” or settles back into place.

I also get a similar click when I move my arm behind my body, like shoulder extension/internal rotation.
From the side, my scapula looks slightly prominent/winged, and I also have rounded shoulders. It feels like my scapula, clavicle, and shoulder are not moving smoothly together.

My post-op MRI showed postoperative SLAP repair changes without a clear recurrent labral tear. The biceps tendon was reported as normal. There was supraspinatus tendinosis/old partial articular-sided tear appearance, but no major rotator cuff rupture or muscle atrophy.

My Acromiohumeral distance was measured around 6.5 mm. It has measured with MRI.
I have tried many things for months: rotator cuff strengthening, serratus anterior work, lower trap/scapular exercises, rows, face pulls, wall slides, posture work, thoracic mobility, and general shoulder rehab. But the clicking has not really improved.
At this point I am wondering if this is scapular dyskinesis, AC joint irritation/instability, clavicle rotation problem, scar tissue, impingement, or something else.

Has anyone had persistent AC joint/clavicle clicking after SLAP/labrum surgery that did not improve with regular rehab? What finally helped you?
I would really appreciate advice from anyone who has experienced this, or from PTs/orthopedic professionals.