Clavicle Error - Broken Collarbone

Good luck! Look forward to hearing about how it went well when you post next

Glad you are healing well! I think they have to give long predictions for recovery as to not get your hopes up so hopefully it shortens on your next check up.

How is your recovery coming along @M_V. Did you get out on any longer rides?

Bit late sorry but best of luck.

That is some good ole bruising you have. Bit more than I got, I’ve still got traces lingering after 5 weeks but this was just after breaking it.

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Did you get out on any longer rides?

Not yet. The wife and I have been having a wee break in York for the last 5 days which has been a good distraction from wanting to get out there and ride too soon.

We head home today and I’m planning to get out and just ride around the local park for a bit tomorrow and see how it feels and take it from there.

Like I say, I’ve still got a little bruising and can’t sleep on that side. This week Mrs m_v has made me flinch when she pretended she was going to punch me in the balls and made me jump out my skin when she snuck up on me in the Minster both of which made my shoulder hurt like hell!

I also tried to carry my camera around one day with the strap on that shoulder and it got pretty sore so think I it’ll need to be a while before I can do that or carry a bag on it.

Does this mean that I’m the only one of the recent inductees to the broken clavicle club that hasn’t had surgical intervention?

3 weeks in and yesterday I went for a skate.

Eeep.

I mean, it doesn't take much for even a plated clavicle to fall apart.

TM re-fractured his plated clavicle by lifting a remote control.

The worst thing about having my fracture plated up was that I couldn't lie on my left hand side, until I had it removed, as the screws would dig into the muscle.

I've also lost a amount of fine control over various muscles in my upper back - For example, I cannot isolate / flex the muscles on the upper part of my back / shoulder on that side, I'm guessing because of nerve damage.

The lack of sensation on the skin below the incision also took a few years to disappear.

The operation itself was pretty much a nothing burger though (although it was on works' insurance). In and out in a morning, with no fuss.

3/10 for bruising the shape of continents.

YMCA ing in Phildas honour....mainly the arm movements.

jesus. no tv for a while then just in case. can definitely see myself getting over confident with moving it around, I feel 10x better every day but the bone/plating still actually has a fair bit of time left until it's actually strong enough.

My doctor said that the sling now isn't so much to keep your arm in place (though it helps) it's more to get you to act like an injured person.

Hopefully getting booked in for physio soon. Anyone go private for this? I'm guessing bike specific physio people will have dealt with rehabbing clavicle breaks before?

@M_V You're in the extra exclusive bit of the club it looks like. Did you have much chat with your doctor about surgery being an option?

Hopefully getting booked in for physio soon. Anyone go private for this? I'm guessing bike specific physio people will have dealt with rehabbing clavicle breaks before?

Yes, kind of. I already know a physio through work so he’s a cyclist, coach etc.

I’ve spoken on the phone with him, not had a proper session yet.

He’s given me some exercises to do and talked about laser therapy on acupuncture points in a little while. He’s done laser on my wrist and back before which was really helpful so I’m looking forward to that.

The exercises are a bit more in depth than what I had already in a leaflet from the hospital and from this website, https://www.porthosp.nhs.uk/departments/vfc/A5%20Clavicle%20exercises%20%2017%204354.pdf.

PM me an email address and I’ll forward the exercises to you. That goes for anyone.

laser therapy on acupuncture points

I hope that he also suggested a cat to chase the lasers, for all the good it would do.

Not a believer?

He’s given me laser on my back and wrist albeit along with something else like infared(?) and I’ve definitely felt better after it. I’ve felt the laser causing heat where it’s gone through tattoo so I dunno, it definitely does something!

I'll take evidence-based interventions over belief any day of the week. If it works for you, though, it works for you.

So I'm 24 hours post surgery now. I was expecting to have it next week but I got a call yesterday morning saying can you come in now, we can do it in 90 minutes.
Aside from some communication mishaps between departments regarding phone numbers, the staff at Chelsea and Westminster were amazing, all of the doctors and nurses were professional and caring and I couldn't have asked for any more.
I was worried about the anesthetic to be honest. My anaesthetist was a cool Aussie bloke, I think his name was James. He put the IV drip in for Saline and then said he'd give me something first to help me relax and ease into it which he liked to call the Pina colada and sure enough that felt great. I had no notion of slowly going under or falling asleep and whilst I was under I didn't have the awareness of the passing of time that you get when you wake up in the morning from a sleep so one minute I was awake and talking about cycling and commuting (both of the anaesthetists cycle too) and the next I'm waking up 5 hours later in an instant. Very odd.
It was supposed to be a 1-1/2 to 2 hour surgery, for some reason it took over 4 but nobody has said why though they didn't mention any problems or complications so I'm not sure what happened.
I was offered food but declined and went home as soon as possible. I had a completely dead arm for the rest of the day which was unpleasant but manageable, it got a bit annoying at bed time as the feeling in my finger tips was coming back and so trying to fall asleep with pins and needles wasn't easy.
Today however is a different story. I woke up at 6am in agony since the pain killers had all worn off during the night and the local numbing anaesthetic was also no longer present. I'm taking everything I've been given at the maximum intervals, paracetamol, codeine, naproxen but nothing is touching it. I can't get up out of bed with it propped on a pillow for more than a couple of minutes without feeling nauseous from the intense pain, it's pretty miserable. On top of that they took my good sling and sent me away with a much shitter one which is far less supportive.
Feeling pretty sorry for myself right now

Dude. Don't know how I missed that this happened?! Hope the pain eases soon, that really doesn't sound like much fun at all :/

Sending healing vibes!

Sorry you’re in pain. I’ve always found issues with the subjective pain scale of 1-10, so out of curiosity, what number would you assign this pain that’s so bad it makes you nauseated?

Yeah I don't know either and I don't like being asked that because I've obviously not experienced a 10 like having a limb amputated or something. It's the most pain I've felt but how that compares on a scale of other people's experience, I can't say

Have had 2 mates this semester go to the Fracture Clinic at Kings after injuring their shoulders/clavicles falling off their bikes.

Both presented with severely limited movement, intense pain, and new lumps above their shoulders. Both took +6 hours to get seen, both got x-rayed, one was told he didn’t have any fractures while the other was told he only sustained 3 rib fractures, and both discovered after a couple of months of pain and suboptimal healing that they actually did have clavicle fractures that had now healed improperly and would require surgery to fix.

They probably see hundreds of people at that clinic, but worth getting a second opinion on shoulder/clavicle injuries.

It was supposed to be a 1-1/2 to 2 hour surgery, for some reason it took over 4 but nobody has said why though they didn't mention any problems or complications so I'm not sure what happened

Welcome to your new life as a cyborg!

Hope the pain passes soon :-)

Now that you mention it, I can't rule out that my skeleton hasn't been replaced with Adamantium.

Check daily for excessive sideburn growth

Thanks for replying. Realising I didn’t express my question correctly, so sorry if it was an extra intrusion on you at this time.

Fair enough, I had/have no idea if there’s evidence or not. He just did it and seemed to make a difference but could have been the other stuff he did too.