Broken Collar Bone Recovery Time

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Broken Collar Bone Recovery Time
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flag jg103
Posted: Nov 30, 2015 at 21:52 Quote
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/12945528/ the emergency doc recons this will heal itself any ideas
flag chriskneeland
O+
Posted: Dec 1, 2015 at 4:33 Quote
jg103 wrote:
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/12945528/ the emergency doc recons this will heal itself any ideas

My doc wanted mine to heal on its own but it wasn't quite that displaced. It's been 20 weeks and it just started to show signs of bone growth on the last x-ray. And that's with the use of a bone growth stimulator for the last 2-3 months. If you don't have surgery expect it to take awhile being that displaced.
flag jg103
Posted: Dec 1, 2015 at 10:16 Quote
cmkneeland wrote:
jg103 wrote:
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/12945528/ the emergency doc recons this will heal itself any ideas

My doc wanted mine to heal on its own but it wasn't quite that displaced. It's been 20 weeks and it just started to show signs of bone growth on the last x-ray. And that's with the use of a bone growth stimulator for the last 2-3 months. If you don't have surgery expect it to take awhile being that displaced.

have to wait a week an then see a specialist . seems like a waste of a week to me i just want it pinned and healing , cant see how a bone snapped in two places and aiming wrong way going to reconnect and heal
flag Brianmcauley
Posted: Dec 9, 2015 at 2:48 Quote
photo
photo




Heres a timeline with bullet points from a bad collarbone break and 2 bust ribs.

Firstly the ribs were sore for about 3 weeks, difficulty breathing and pain but nothing to bad.

Onto the collarbone.

Hit the ground hard after burping the front tyre while taking off a drop... yikes.

Anyho

. 1st week major pain difficulty sleeping loads of pain killers, seen a specialist recommended surgery.

2nd - 3rd week feeling okay settling into the idea of being off work for 6 weeks all good so far, the surgery went well, woke up in pain id say about 5/10, I was warned that later thet night i would experience sevre pain after the anesthetic wore off, about 12 hours after the surgery WHAM! 10/10 intense whole new world of pain, pretty much lasted all night, deadly sore.

3rd to 8 weeks on still major nerve buring sensitivity and pain from the surgery, really unpleasant wondering at this point if i had some long lasting damage.

8 to 10 weeks pain free!! nerve pain subsided and feeling pretty good, back at the gym core and stationary bike no upper arm asides from the PT exercises which is a good time to point out I had been doing these since day 1 after surgery.

3 months later still no pressups but back cycling taking it very easy.

4 months on and the odd preesup and small weight training, still had a step in the bone so had to give it another 2 months.

5 months on feeling great sleeping on the fracture side.

6 months later discharged from the hospital complete heal, back full fitness training, 100% no pain or restriction.

Originally broke it on june 13th this year.
flag chriskneeland
O+
Posted: Dec 9, 2015 at 13:59 Quote
Brianmcauley wrote:
photo
photo




Heres a timeline with bullet points from a bad collarbone break and 2 bust ribs.

Firstly the ribs were sore for about 3 weeks, difficulty breathing and pain but nothing to bad.

Onto the collarbone.

Hit the ground hard after burping the front tyre while taking off a drop... yikes.

Anyho

. 1st week major pain difficulty sleeping loads of pain killers, seen a specialist recommended surgery.

2nd - 3rd week feeling okay settling into the idea of being off work for 6 weeks all good so far, the surgery went well, woke up in pain id say about 5/10, I was warned that later thet night i would experience sevre pain after the anesthetic wore off, about 12 hours after the surgery WHAM! 10/10 intense whole new world of pain, pretty much lasted all night, deadly sore.

3rd to 8 weeks on still major nerve buring sensitivity and pain from the surgery, really unpleasant wondering at this point if i had some long lasting damage.

8 to 10 weeks pain free!! nerve pain subsided and feeling pretty good, back at the gym core and stationary bike no upper arm asides from the PT exercises which is a good time to point out I had been doing these since day 1 after surgery.

3 months later still no pressups but back cycling taking it very easy.

4 months on and the odd preesup and small weight training, still had a step in the bone so had to give it another 2 months.

5 months on feeling great sleeping on the fracture side.

6 months later discharged from the hospital complete heal, back full fitness training, 100% no pain or restriction.

Originally broke it on june 13th this year.

Damn. That's pretty much my same timeline without surgery.
flag dimitrisz
Posted: Jan 20, 2016 at 23:15 Quote
I would like to make an update to my broken collar bone story.No operation and some bone overlaping.
broke it hiting hard afer my front wheel skided in a wet rocky turn. didnt expect it
First thing i wasnt waring any protection, maybe with some certified shoulder protection, things where better.
Seccond i was alone, after the inital shock managed to compose my self and made a call to my bro, explaining him where to find me, my phone was in my shorts pocket and took a shock from the fall, was slowly dying, luckily it went totally black after the call.
My brother found me, luckily he could come, we went to the ER of a hospitall.
For the first x ray i was still warm and basically alligned the bones in a straight position. Doctors gave me the news
4 weeks off, and no operation needed. Gave a me a sling and told me to go home basically.
First night a lot of pain in every litle movement. had to remain 100% still in order to get 30 min of sleep, then wake up and need to get up and then try again. Anyway the first days were the harder and basically the first week,after that it went better.
What i want to advice is the following, because of the pain i tried to use pillows to support my shoulder and hand when i was lying, this worked for the pain, but as i found out it wasnt good for the location of the bones. by doing this my bones overlapped.
In a week time i found out that a union has started. I coulf feel it.
the doctors only gave me advice about waring the sling and keeping the hand imobilised, but i think the most important is the sleep position, you need to keep your broken bones still but in a good alligned position without overlaping, evryone that has been in this position knows how dificult this is , also the first week is the most important, if the bones start to union you cant change their position.
for this time i needed my family support, since i couldnt drive, cook, or even geting dresed.
anyway after the first week things started geting better, the xray showed the overlaping, doctors were not clear about what effects this will have but continued with no operation.
the hand at all this time was remaining still,
Anyway this goes up to week four. At week three i was going for long walks. after week four i dint use the sling all the time, only when the hand was going tired. i also did some limited motion exercises.
at week eight the doctor gave me the ok to do physiotherapy to move the frozen shoulder-hand that i have developed. there was alot of pain at the begining, from the frozen muscles, but the bone gave no problem.
Now i am in week 12 i have almost full range of motion, i went on biking and even did some jumps and drops, my hand is not as strong yet as the good hand and posible not so flexible yet, so i will continue exercises at my home,
My only concern now is that when i raise my hands straight over my head, i have a 2-3 degrees less that my good hand, i hope this will go away with the exercises or maybe is the result of the overlaping. the ovelaping of the bones is not visible from the outside suprisinlgy, i think though that my left shoulder-cage has become a little smaller than my right.
So for evryone like me that got in this adventure, just remain calm and patient, things will go better and time passes very fast.
flag joepuddle
Posted: Jan 21, 2016 at 1:18 Quote
In regards to the loss of motion in your shoulder chances are it will never come back. I have lost about the same and both my physio and dr have said it will never come back. Although part of the problem I have is due to having a few screws. Are you still having physio if not perhaps you should continue?
flag dimitrisz
Posted: Jan 21, 2016 at 21:53 Quote
joepuddle wrote:
In regards to the loss of motion in your shoulder chances are it will never come back. I have lost about the same and both my physio and dr have said it will never come back. Although part of the problem I have is due to having a few screws. Are you still having physio if not perhaps you should continue?

Will see the doctor for advice , yeah probably will continue the physio. You did the surgical method i assume, so you must have no overlaping of the bones, i would expect that you shouldn't have any limitations in the range of motion with this method. Maybe we need to give it some time.
flag joepuddle
Posted: Jan 22, 2016 at 0:59 Quote
Zagos wrote:
joepuddle wrote:
In regards to the loss of motion in your shoulder chances are it will never come back. I have lost about the same and both my physio and dr have said it will never come back. Although part of the problem I have is due to having a few screws. Are you still having physio if not perhaps you should continue?

Will see the doctor for advice , yeah probably will continue the physio. You did the surgical method i assume, so you must have no overlaping of the bones, i would expect that you shouldn't have any limitations in the range of motion with this method. Maybe we need to give it some time.

yeh, I broke the very tip of my clavicle so no overlapping bones the lack of motion comes from the pins and plate in my shoulder. to be honest its only around 5% its nothing I ever notice.
flag nissmo127
Posted: Mar 4, 2016 at 20:30 Quote
Just thought I would post up my break, consultation, surgery and recovery/rehab to date. Crashed at about 35mph in a corner landing straight on my shoulder, I knew it was broke as soon as a came to stop. Mid-shaft, comminuted, over 100% displaced.

After the ER I went in for a consult, first doctor basically told me bones hurt when they break...really? I asked about surgery since it was a fairly decent mid-shaft break. He tried telling me a bunch of nonsense about it wouldn't heal any better or faster with surgery, I've been around MX for 20 years and knew better. I had already sent my ER X-Ray to a friend in the business, he recommended surgery. Asked for a second consult which seemed to really piss him off.

I went to the second doctor he didn't even hesitate...surgery. Surgery went great, had some bone pain and tissue burning approx 24-36 hour after surgery, once the nerve block wore off. The anesthesiologist warned me about this in advance, so I was already on my norco as soon as my hand started to get feeling back. So the pain was only about a 5-6 compared to the 8-9 it was pre-surgery.

Ice pack rotation for first 48 hours after surgery. Wore sling for first 4 days post op. Started riding my trainer, doing stretches, squeeze ball and movement exercises 48 hours post op. Started phase 2 rehab at 7 days post op. Now at 10 days post op and I'm doing hill workouts, riding trainer, resistance band training, pendulum stretches, range of motion and Isometric rotator cuff exercises. Shooting to be on my road bike next week. Taking calcium, vitamin D/K/B-6, phosphorus, zinc and magnesium and mixing 2 tablespoons of Flaxseed meal with breakfast every morning. Almost no pain in the break, joint or skin now. Still have some numbness under incision, going to start acupuncture to stimulate nerve regrowth. Shooting to be back on my MX bike end of next month depending on follow ups.
flag franky932
Posted: Mar 28, 2016 at 15:13 Quote
offshore wrote:
TiJiT wrote:
In regards of recovery, I have one thing to say to you. Take your rehab seriously and commit to it. I broke mine in August of 2012, then did therapy in January until April. The reason for the therapy was because I jumped right back into things after 6 weeks. Just go to a physical therapist or if you don't have the funds, go online and do some basic shoulder exercises. As a matter of fact, I literally just got home from physical therapy haha

Well I stood up as a self described 'expert' in healing broken collarbones, having been on my second break in as many collarbones (I've broken both). Turns out that TiJiT is right on the money here. My break didn't feel or look as bad as the first, so at 6 weeks I got back in the pool. My strength and 'pain tolerance' allowed me to swim through clicking bones, which I convinced myself were just misaligned ligaments. But I even felt new oozing and warmth after some swims :/ (I was doing a mile in 30 minutes pace, not exactly slow and cautious).

I worry that has set me back, as I'm 3.5 months in now with a non-union developing (I stopped swimming at 12 weeks at least). It 'feels' pretty good, 'healing', with full range of motion, don't feel like I'm pulling the bone apart when I roll over and lift the covers (happened at first), not even random bone aches (those are ligaments actually). I read that the collarbone is spongey and takes a long time to solidify. DON'T DISRUPT THE PROCESS! I start on a bone stimulator this week, after which I myself will have to decide on surgery or 'live with a nonunion'.

Truth be told, I've still been sort of active, and have sustained slow annoying falls off a skateboard and bike, but nothing to aggravate the collarbone...I think. Looking at my old broken collarbone, it felt pretty good at 3 months even though x-rays only showed bone connecting the ends. I half hope to take things easy, get back into activity, then someday down the line in 2 years get an xray and see the 'magical bone growth' that I have a feeling occurs (it did on my first break).

Significant clicking is bad, clicking outside the collarbone is probably other injuries. When I raise my arm just the elbow, scar tissue from deltoid damage cracks and pops until after a few times of me 'working it out'. I feel little clicks sometimes that aren't by the bone break point but seem like they are bone. Try to minimize those as well. I've come this far and read how risky surgery is/annoying recovery can be (with same risk of nonunion!), I'm going to stick it out. I even plan to start kiteboarding again cautiously next month, healed bone or not.

The dinosaurs broke and healed bones, right? They didn't get surgery! Smile

Hi OFFSHORE.....how is your collarbone now? is it in union or non union state......after 2 years?

thanks...hope you are still there....if not.....can some told me their story on long heal with non surgecal OP....Big Grin Big Grin
flag franky932
Posted: Mar 28, 2016 at 15:15 Quote
offshore wrote:
Yikes that's a rough sounding sequence of events. And while I'll never call the general internets population kids, I will refer to myself and collarbone experience as 'wise elder' on the matter Wink . As such, I've successfully broken each collarbone, clean midshaft with separation. The first was 2011 snowboarding too big in a halfpipe. Hard shoulder fall and snap, I immediately knew it was broken. Xray confirmed too well. The oozing warm as I finished riding down the mountain was probably the eeriest feeling I've ever had, and of course disgusting).

My first doc said surgery was generally advised against these days, and with a single clean break, to give the sling a shot. I think I was in the sling for up to a month, and at two months I had 90% mobility and was starting to start training again (triathlon coming up), but every time I went back to the ortho he said "give it one more month, let's see how it does". I wanted surgery, was frustrated at the slow progress, but kept listening. He's a professional, my instincts were to trust him, and trust my body that it still wasn't normal by two months. Here's the angled X-ray at two months:
photo

Pretty gnarley, right? Well I kept listening to my doc, and sure enough, without misuse (heavy lifting, snowboarding, biking) it actually knitted itself back 100%, probably more given the extra bone ball there now. I went on two months later to compete in a triathlon including a one mile swim, without any pain from the bone (just some lost fitness). That's about 2cm of separation, and I wouldn't believe that story if I hadn't experienced the full recovery myself (looking at that xray). I tried to give the guy money to operate, and he kept rejecting it. His instinct/professional opinion was right.

Fast forward, 5 weeks ago tomorrow, I get sideswiped by a tunnel visioned snowboarder [while I was flying by though, too fast]. Tweaks me oddly and an awkward fall onto my back or side and snap, there goes the OTHER clavicle! This one immediately doesn't feel so bad, I doubt it's even a full fracture/separated, and minimal warm ooze hehe. But I still go get an xray, and sure enough, clean break with 1cm of separation. I didn't even need any advice from the doc, it's 2-3 weeks of sling and hoping for a quicker union than last time. Doc didn't even offer any PT advice, like he figured I knew what I was doing breaking my bones Eek .

So I'm at 5 weeks, have gotten most non-load lifting mobility and function back (lifting arm up, etc). There's still a limited cross reach when I reach for left shoulder (try putting on deodorant haha). I can lightly push and pull, but still am limiting my strength until at least week 6, and second x-ray. I'm not a mountain biker, but a kiteboarder, and complete clavicle function is critical for when I'm hanging from a bar throwing a raley or boosting a big jump. I will definitely not get back to risky activity too soon, and hopefully will not experience your re-injury or non-union @Parebellum (it seems to me like you might have gotten a bit too active too soon and never quite healed, then reinjured).

The literature on bone regrowth says that it starts as a fibrous tissue surrounding the break, and if left to rest will eventually calcify into hard bone. If you wiggle or stress it too much, you risk the body 'giving up' and it becoming a weird fibrous joint, though I don't remember the technical name. Here is the xray of my second break. I'm still in the camp of non-surgery unless a multiple fracture has dropped shoulder, you're a professional athlete, etc. Otherwise, let the body be amazing! Oh and smoking increases risk of non-union substantially, that surprised me...

photo

offshore how are you today? ( collarbone)

tyvm
flag TizzyTyler
Posted: May 6, 2016 at 23:13 Quote
I have a Z shape break on my left collarbone. Broke it 8 days ago, the orthopedic surgeon suggested surgery, but I'm really not trying to get it. In a sling, not much strength, I can straighten my arm and bring it back to sling position (across my stomach). Not much pain unless my shoulder is moved wrong, but I feel as if everything is gradually getting better day by day when it comes to range of motion, pain, and strength. I've been laying in bed on my back resting with a pillow under my elbow. Has anyone let their Z shaped break heal naturally?




https://instagram.com/p/BE1XkjpNFRUARVOrHTU04qjF3PuO4q0szdwKzQ0/
flag chriskneeland
O+
Posted: May 7, 2016 at 4:34 Quote
TizzyTyler wrote:
I have a Z shape break on my left collarbone. Broke it 8 days ago, the orthopedic surgeon suggested surgery, but I'm really not trying to get it. In a sling, not much strength, I can straighten my arm and bring it back to sling position (across my stomach). Not much pain unless my shoulder is moved wrong, but I feel as if everything is gradually getting better day by day when it comes to range of motion, pain, and strength. I've been laying in bed on my back resting with a pillow under my elbow. Has anyone let their Z shaped break heal naturally?




https://instagram.com/p/BE1XkjpNFRUARVOrHTU04qjF3PuO4q0szdwKzQ0/

Get the surgery. Here's mine. It took almost 6 months to heal without surgery, and I had to buy a bone growth stimulator and use it for 3 months. A guy I know had surgery and was back on the bike in 7 weeks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/5Cx7cMEwAr
flag TizzyTyler
Posted: May 7, 2016 at 7:41 Quote
cmkneeland wrote:
TizzyTyler wrote:
I have a Z shape break on my left collarbone. Broke it 8 days ago, the orthopedic surgeon suggested surgery, but I'm really not trying to get it. In a sling, not much strength, I can straighten my arm and bring it back to sling position (across my stomach). Not much pain unless my shoulder is moved wrong, but I feel as if everything is gradually getting better day by day when it comes to range of motion, pain, and strength. I've been laying in bed on my back resting with a pillow under my elbow. Has anyone let their Z shaped break heal naturally?




https://instagram.com/p/BE1XkjpNFRUARVOrHTU04qjF3PuO4q0szdwKzQ0/

Get the surgery. Here's mine. It took almost 6 months to heal without surgery, and I had to buy a bone growth stimulator and use it for 3 months. A guy I know had surgery and was back on the bike in 7 weeks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/5Cx7cMEwAr









I'm fine with the long healing process by going naturally, I'm just really skeptical on surgery. Did you have yours in a sling while you let it heal? Any tips on natural healing? I have till the end of the week to make a final decision, I've just been leaning towards letting it go on its own.

 


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