Clavicle Error - Broken Collarbone

Had my follow up x-rays last week. Not as far along as expected but getting there slowly. Loads of movement so will start physio asap. Told don't do anything where you might fall on it until properly healed as the last thing you want is to yank those screws out as that may properly f**k you. Fair enough.

#trainwankering for me for a while.

I did mine again recently. Third time on the right hand side, never had pins.

1. Jar of pasta sauce in the spokes.
   
2. Herne Hill crash.
   
3. Tripping over in the street.
   
   

Feels much better now (7 weeks in, roughly).
Hopefully I'm done now with braking my collar bone but something tells me I'll be back one day!

Essential kit:
Decent sling (don't let them fob you off with one of them big ribbon things)
Subscription to BFI player
Pile of good books
Zip-up hoodies
Slip on shoes
Nasal spray (to clear sinuses when you can't lie on your side)

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Essential kit:

Hahaha spot on.

Btw, if anyone's waiting for their two-week check up and only has a shit ribbon sling, they are more than welcome to use the decent, full-support one I've just finished using.

A forum sling might be useful...

Visited the Physio yesterday for the first time,

She was super happy with the range of movement in my arm and all going well I should be able to ride for my MTB holiday end of May. But no jumps.

Hope everyone else is healing up ok!

But no jumps.

Or falling off!

A separation for me. Went down in a road race. Anybody got any experience of something similar?

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Bad luck. Looks nasty, hope you heal fast.

Yep, separated my left shoulder last spring. It took a while to diagnose for some reason and initiallyy I thought I'd got away with it, but further x rays showed the AC joint separated and the ligaments gone. I was advised to let things heal naturally (with the option of surgery if I wanted it) and I'm glad I did. I have a 'step', but it's just cosmetic. I've been fairly gods about doing exercises to stabilise the muscles around the area and I ride pain free.

Good luck with yours.

Thanks. You’re not the first to say I should let it heal naturally. Big block of training on the turbo.

Just as my legs were coming good too 🙄.

Did the same thing (car assisted) to my right shoulder about six years ago. Did lots of exercises that the folks at the hospital told me to do and all was well. I have never bothered to have it operated on. You will find repetitive movements (I have a horse that need to be groomed) can tire you easily and will make the rerouted tendons ache a bit, but it passes. I was on a turbo within days and back on the bike in a month. I have suffered no loss of movement.

Cheers chief. I’m moping, bored and eating shit today but I’ll get myself back on the turbo this week.

Concerned I’ll have lost my nerve in the bunch but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Worked out from TrainingPeaks I was doing 46.9kph when I went down.

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Did the same thing last year when my chain snapped over a speed bump descending College Rd, went for the surgery (after waiting 2 weeks for the road rash to heal). Had more grief from the incision rather than the joint itself, so i'll reckon you'll be alright.

Kept myself ticking over on the turbo while i was off work and was riding again after 6 weeks with the metal still in. Had it whipped out after 4 months. Shame they didn't let me keep it afterwards, was looking forward to a new bottle opener.

At least yours was an impressive tumble, I was on a bumpy lane and a car came around the corner in the middle of the road with a distinct bias towards the tiny bit of space me and my Yates MTB were taking up. I braked and tried to do a sort of wall of death on a dry stone wall, high sided at about 10 MPH, flipped over sideways and landed with the bike still cleated to me.

If I had been going faster I would probably have rolled away, as I have done on plenty of other falls.

Keep the shoulder gently active and you'll be fine. I was off work for four weeks.

Thanks. I work for myself from home so it hasn’t been too disastrous on that front.

I am a sales manager, so drive every day and had started a new job just a month before the off. My new employer was excellent about it, thank goodness.

2nd time in the club, this time caused by a snapped chain while out of the saddle on Old St .. was straight on my shoulder before I knew what was happening.

Weirdly has been way less painful this time, even after 2 weeks I'm able to move it relatively freely with hardly any pain. But it is snapped at the shoulder end and displaced by 4cm - I wonder if it's so fucked that it's hurting less than if the bones were rubbing together.

Surgery on Sunday... for people who have had it plated + screwed, how long before it felt 'normal' and how long before going back on the bike? About 6 weeks? Any extra weirdness caused by the surgery?

I took two weeks off to give it a decent recovery but mine was already broken for 8 months before they operated. And about 6 weeks off the bike then slowly did one or two days a week till it felt strong enough to commute every day.

You get a little numbness but not that noticeable.

Mine was 10 weeks off the bike, and localised numbness for about a year. Still have the screws and plates in, not really noticeable unless I have a heavy backpack or similar on for a long time

Nearly three years later, I still have plate & screws in my shoulder on the right. I don't have any problem with backpacks etc, but there is still local numbness, and an occasional random twinge.

Sleeping is proving hard. Can’t get comfortable. They gave me codeine but I don’t want to take it as I hate the way it makes me feel the next day.

I haven’t been drinking much in the last year but that’s changed this week. Few glasses of vino help me drop off.

Mine was 6 weeks off bikes, 8 before drops. Started to feel alright after 4 but didn't fancy risking it. To be honest I found it felt worse after they took the plate out, so if you have the option of keeping it in I'd say do that. It took about 4 months after the second op for everything to feel solid again but then again I didn't actually break anything, just snapped all the ligaments so could be different for you.

Probs done the right this time. Hoorah!

Edit: xray says no break 😁

2 months down the line and I'm golden. Apart from the 6" scar running from the base of my neck to my elbow.

Pain is non-existent, maybe the occasional twinge when I put strain through the shoulder at an odd angle. Have been advised to lift weights and start building strength into my arm.

Very happy with the outcome.

Surgery to put the plate in went well and was discharged after a night in hospital. Bit painful and as a very odd side effect, ear has been numb for last 3 days, but otherwise good. Nice to not have to constantly worry about it healing in a weird way due to bad posture etc.