Signs and symptoms of a broken collarbone include:

• Pain that increases with shoulder movement
• Swelling
• Tenderness
• Bruising
• A bulge on or near your shoulder
• A grinding or crackling sound when you try to move your shoulder
• Stiffness or inability to move your shoulder
• Newborn children will often not move their arm for several days following a birth-related collarbone fracture.

Common causes of a broken collarbone include:

• Falls, such as falling onto your shoulder or onto your outstretched hand.
• Sports injuries, such as a direct blow to your shoulder on the field, rink or court.
• Vehicle trauma from a car, motorcycle or bike accident.
• Birth injury from passing through the birth canal.

Your collarbone doesn't harden completely until about age 20. This puts children and teenagers at higher risk of a broken collarbone. The risk decreases after age 20, but then rises again in older people as bone strength decreases with age.

Most broken collarbones heal without difficulty. Complications, when they occur, might include:

• Nerve or blood vessel injury. The jagged ends of a broken collarbone may injure nearby nerves and blood vessels. Seek immediate medical attention if you notice numbness or coldness in your arm or hand.
• Poor or delayed healing. A severely broken collarbone might heal slowly or incompletely. Poor union of the bones during healing can shorten the bone.
• A lump in the bone. As part of the healing process, the place where the bone knits together forms a bony lump. This lump is easy to see because it's close to the skin. Most lumps disappear over time, but some are permanent.
• Osteoarthritis. A fracture that involves the joints that connect your collarbone to your shoulder blade or your breastbone might increase your risk of eventually developing arthritis in that joint.