Coracoclavicular joints
The red arrow points to the coracoclavicular joint
What is it ?
It is a rare joint between the coracoid process and the clavicle. Only 0.4 to 1.2 percent of all people have a coracoclavicular joint.
How does it develop ?
Coracoclavicular joints are congenital. Some races, like in Asia, have more coracoclavicular joints than others.
What do I feel ?
A lot of coracoclavicular joints don´t cause any problems. Most people are not aware of it. Sometimes these joint variations are recognized on occasion while taking X-rays of the chest. A few can cause a lot of problems, especially pain in shoulder. Patients feel the pain in front or on top of the shoulder. Sometimes pain is radiating into the arm. As it is causing pain in only a few cases, it has to be taken caution not to overlook other shoulder diseases, that might be responsible for the shoulder pain.
How can it be diagnosed ?
Sometimes, a coracoclavicular joint can be palpated under the skin. X-ray or CT scans will show it.
What can be done ?
Nothing has to be done if the coracoclavicular joint causes no pain. If pain is presentand people are suffering from it, the only way to get rid off is an operation. In an open procedure it will be resected.
Exposition of a coracoclavicular joint space while performing an open operation
What is happening after an operation ?
It is not necessary to fix the arm in sling for weeks. The patient is allowed to move his operated arm actively immediately after an operation.
X-ray after removal of a coracoclavicular joint
What will happen in the future ?
If a coracoclavicular joint is painfree and nothing
has to be done, we can not make a prognosis, Which means that - until today
- we don´t know which coracoclavicular joints will cause problems in
the future and which not.
After an operative resection it won´t occur again on the same side.
You can find us here
Other themes & sites arround the shoulder:
Diseases of the shoulder ( german ): http://www.schulterinfo.de , http://www.schulter.info
Diseases of the shoulder ( english ): http://www.shoulderinformation.com
Shoulder arthroplasty: http://www.schulterprothesen.net , http://www.schulterprothesen.com , http://www.shoulderprosthesis.com , http://www.prothesenatlas.de
Frozen shoulder ( german ): http://www.schultersteife.de
Shoulder specialists ( german ): http://www.schulterspezialisten.de
Shoulder examination ( german ): http://www.schulteruntersuchung.de
Shoulder videos ( german ): http://www.schultervideo.de