Isolated scapula fracture: Ice hockey player without trauma

Scapular fractures are generally occur from in high-energy traumas and are associated with a high incidence of morbidity and mortality.

We present an unusual scapular fracture that occurred with a rare mechanism. A 23-year-old male patient who led an active sports life for 10 years and played ice hockey for the last 5 years. In a competition, he felt a sudden pain in his right scapula after hit the puck. He did not experience any direct trauma to his shoulder and there was no evidence of any pathological fracture. The fracture was isolated in the scapular body and it was classified as type 4, according to Hardegger classification. The was patient immobilized with a Velpau bandage for three weeks and then treated with physiotherapy for shoulder rehabilitation.

The fracture mechanism was likely a disharmonius contracture of the agonist and antagonist muscles of the shoulder joint while hitting the puck.

Scapular fractures are generally seen along with other injuries, but in this case we wanted to emphasize that care has to been taken to diagnose an isolated scapular fracture while assessing shoulder pain.