Clavicle Error - Broken Collarbone

Cheers all. An update (for completeness, not sympathy!):

I spoke to a bloke who is the son of some friends of my parents', who is an orthopaedic surgeon, who suggested I wait it out and see how it goes. He's a really decent guy who knows his eggs. He suggested that if /there is no pain when I touch the bone, and if I can't move my arm freely, then it is likely beginning to heal. He said I would be stupid to give up on it after waiting only the bare minimum length of time expected for healing.

He also reiterated that an op isn't advisable, citing a case he dealt with just recently where the metal hardware 'reversed' back out of the stapled incision. Nasty. Whilst I don't want to wait around indefinitely, I feel reluctant to commit to two operations and another painful spell. It's already ruined my plans for the Summer, so I've nothing to lose.

I've just heard horror stories (in Canada) of people having to have their collar bones rebroken because they didn't set right. Do not want.

Strange - I heard the same thing as well when I was in Toronto just after I got hit and my clavicle was broken. Maybe Canada has a bad rep for it?? Anyway that was the main reason I wanted to get the plate put in so the heal would be straight, and there'd be a lot less chance of having to go back in and get it re-broken/re-set six weeks down the line.

There seem to be a lot of different surgeons with a lot of different ideas about the balance between keeping things moving and avoiding doing yourself further injury.

I'm now three and a bit weeks post op and if I was following doctors orders I'd be wearing a sling all the time, not running, not cycling and definitely not raising my arm above my shoulder until my six week follow-up. As it happens I ditched the sling after two weeks and have been religiously doing all of the exercises that eastend posted earlier (including the above the shoulder ones for the last few days). I can see the logic for not getting the bike for another couple of weeks, but I reckon the only reason I've been told not to run is because I might fall over. Given that I haven't fallen over for a decade or so I've decided to ignore that bit of advice as well.

Which is a roundabout way of saying that I went for a run this morning. And it felt good...

This is from my last one. That long screw was causing me pain, was glad to be rid of it. The photo underneath is what the plate looks like.

I still can't believe the size of that screw - was it a fuckup? did they run out of sensible sized screws or did they actually have some sort of logic for using a screw so ridiculously long it scraped a hole in one of your other bones...?

To add to the collection of gruesome pictures

before:

you can't tell from the xray, but the pointy looking bit was being held away from the blunt looking bit by a load of flesh that it had punched through. the bits shifted further apart after a week - leaving the pointy bit resting gently against my ribcage. Which was nice.

after:

Cheers all. An update (for completeness, not sympathy!):

I spoke to a bloke who is the son of some friends of my parents', who is an orthopaedic surgeon, who suggested I wait it out and see how it goes. He's a really decent guy who knows his eggs. He suggested that if /there is no pain when I touch the bone, and if I can't move my arm freely, then it is likely beginning to heal. He said I would be stupid to give up on it after waiting only the bare minimum length of time expected for healing.

He also reiterated that an op isn't advisable, citing a case he dealt with just recently where the metal hardware 'reversed' back out of the stapled incision. Nasty. Whilst I don't want to wait around indefinitely, I feel reluctant to commit to two operations and another painful spell. It's already ruined my plans for the Summer, so I've nothing to lose.

Your orthopaedic surgeon friend of a friend is a wise man. Surgery is definitely something to be avoided if possible. It has lots of risk (and some certainties like pain, and scarring, and numbness around the incision) and even though I ended up having it, I wouldn't have done if I thought there was a chance it would have healed without.

Have you got a follow-up xray booked to tell you for certain whether it is starting to heal or not?

Strange - I heard the same thing as well when I was in Toronto just after I got hit and my clavicle was broken. Maybe Canada has a bad rep for it?? Anyway that was the main reason I wanted to get the plate put in so the heal would be straight, and there'd be a lot less chance of having to go back in and get it re-broken/re-set six weeks down the line.

I was wondering if they're just more picky about having a correctly set bones...

Have you got a follow-up xray booked to tell you for certain whether it is starting to heal or not?

Yes, on Thursday.

2 weeks since metal plate, aaaand.......I'm back on the bike. Rode from home to LMNH yesterday (not a great distance, I know) and it, sort of, feels all right.
Marathon ride today, I'm heading for South beer.
Heal up soon everyone.

look forward to seeing you later then FB.

Fuck this fucking bone. Still not anything like healed. Going to see a doc privately this week about an op.

Supposed to be off on my tour tomorrow as well. Fucksticks.

Crumbs, Josh! Sorry you miss all the no-rain season.

in the club! mines in three pieces after a tumble 2 days ago. seems like third times a charm on this shoulder.

So just over a fortnight since I had my plate installed. The healing is going well... started doing a bit more serious movement with my arm yesterday, and once or twice got this burning / tearing sensation around my shoulder, which was a (not so) gentle reminder to take it nice and slow with the exercise. Maybe that pain is from the sharp end of bone still sticking into the flesh?

Here's some before and after pics. In the first one, you can see the little chunk thats snapped off and drifted a good deal away from the bone. This was why they said that surgery was necessary this time - there was too much space between the pieces, and the location of the break near the end of the bone also usually results in poor healing if left alone.

So I was asking the surgeon lots about clavicle surgery and bones growing back together. I feel something of an expert at this stage, given my own history and the amount of information I've picked up off this thread (I'll give DIY surgery a go, if anyone here feels they need it... just give me a few quid for some ether and a trip to B&Q). I was interested in why they'd still left a gap between the bones, despite having cut me open and affixed the plate. He said that if they stick the bone completely back together, there's no flow of blood and tissue where the break is - so the bone doesnt really grow back together. Its a question of getting a decent balance of gap and position. You can see in the picture below that there's still a gap left between the pieces, despite a plate being inserted.

So that'll be there for the next four or five months, and then I'll be up for surgery again to get it yanked out. Next fracture clinic visit is a month from now.

Fuck this fucking bone. Still not anything like healed. Going to see a doc privately this week about an op.

Supposed to be off on my tour tomorrow as well. Fucksticks.

Sorry to hear that. I share your frustration. Its a shit bone to break, especially this time of year when the weather is a bit nicer and there's cycling to be done. I would have preferred to have broken my arm. Plaster cast goes on, problem solved. You cant put a collarbone in a cast obviously...

I hope everyone is healing up well x

Im fixed :D
went for a checkup and xrays today (been 6 weeks since op and 7 weeks and 5 days since break ), doc said its healed and solid enough to start riding again ( but no mtb-ing :( :D ) and in another 6 weeks it should be unbreakable , i did joke with him that i could break it if i tried hard enough
he also said i can start lifting heavy stuff again but to build the weight up and don't go overboard
ive got his number if needs be but hopefully thats my last visit to the hospital

as soon as i put my bike back together im going to start building my milage back up to hopefully do a bit of touring this autumn/winter

heal up fast everyone else
ATB
1234

Operation booked for this coming Monday.

:-) + :-( = :-I

Operation booked for this coming Monday.

:-) + :-( = :-I

Hope it all goes well Josh, it is never as bad as you think it is going to be ;-)

good luck dude. nobody wants to be cut up if they don't have to - but like gralegrav says, it's never as bad as you think. I'm 6 weeks post op, back on the bike and did 50 lengths of crawl in the pool on Monday... the op hurt, but going from the uncertainty of 'is it healing' to seeing it all lined up with screws and plates on an xray does wonders for your state of mind.

Dont forget to take some photos of the plate when you go to the fracture clinic for x-rays so you can put it up here :-)

Good luck with it. I feel sorry for you having to start a healing process all over again, but from the sounds of things it should have been done first thing, rather than allowing it to heal on its own.

Pre- and Post-op, stay off the drink, eat lots of healthy food, and if you're a smoker then give it up. All studies seem to point towards it having a very negative effect on your bones growing back together, and the fracture clinic in Kings College had loads of notices up about it, warning smokers.

Just got back from the Alps, where I managed to break my "Clavicule" after wiping out on an embarrassingly innocuous corner.

Anyway, they put me in this figure of 8 splint thing which is massively uncomfortable and I'm reading now that a normal sling is just as good if not better.

Just wondering what people over here have been given, sling or other brace type thing....?

The number of these injuries is just incredible this summer. Then again, with nearly 12,000 active forumengers it's still a small percentage, but you never know to how many other non-posters it happens.

Get better soon, dommyracer.

Ok.

As it was 10 days ago, then 7 weeks after the accident:

As it is today, following yesterday's operation:

When the surgeon opened me up he said there was no sign of it having healed at all.

Feels pretty stiff and uncomfortable tonight, pretty tired etc., but pleased to have got it done and to finally be in control of it. I'll have another check-up in a fortnight from now.

Wow thats an enormous gap between the two broken pieces. No wonder it wasnt healing up.

Shit buzz that it took so long just to get to this stage. The plate will be a bit uncomfortable (and that some crazy looking shape!) but you'll have definite improvement with rest, then physio. I presume that it will be coming out at some stage in the future. You're lucky you dont have a hook plate (like me) that impedes the movement of your arm.

Where did you get the op done?
Public or private?