Clay shoveler’s fracture

A clay-shoveler’s fracture is a fracture of a spinous process, most commonly of C7, although any of the lower cervical vertebrae as well as T1 and T2 can also be involved. This example shows a fracture of the T1 spinous process (arrow). These are stable fractures, requiring no treatment, and indeed old non-healed fractures are often incidental findings on cervical spine radiographs performed for other reasons.