I'm dealing with that right now, in fact. Similar over the bars wreck in a sprint. Also non-surgical break. Luckily no broken clavicle, or things would be way worse. This was mid November, so 7 months ago.

As for my recovery, I was in a sling for 8 weeks with little range of motion exercises in the last half, but that was about it. Rehab started very slowly. My strength in that shoulder had all but disappeared. Seven months later and I'm still struggling with it, although I have not been as diligent with ongoing PT as I should be. I don't race triathlon anymore, but I have done some cursory pullups in the last 2 months and it was doable. Jostling from running was pretty irritating to it through maybe 5 months out from the injury. I started riding the trainer about 3 days after the accident. Just rigged up a sling from an old inner tube so it didn't get too stinky and got those legs moving. Strap your arm to your torso tightly!

Wise words: Don't skimp on the PT. Like I said, I've been too lax with mine and still struggle with stuff like lifting things off high shelves. And be patient. It will seem like it's taking forever, and it definitely sort of does, compared to a collar bone, but you'll get there. And did I mention don't skimp on the PT? The band exercises should be as much a part of your other training, if not more. Oh yeah, as you progress to more weight/resistance exercises, you can get TRX knock-off straps on ebay for like $30 shipped.

Ive had a fractured scapula from an over the bar wreck cross racing. That was 3 years ago.

I can echo the point of don't avoid or minimize the PT.

What has happened with me is my whole shoulder joint became 'off kilter' and has now resulted in different wear patterns in the Rotator Cuff Muscles/Tendons. I have since had to have my bicep tendon cut and am currently fighting a torn suprasupnatus (sp).

FWIW, i would not rush this one, and possibly even get 3rd party PT to supplement what your Health Care Provider normally provides.

" Jostling from running was pretty irritating to it through maybe 5 months out from the injury. I started riding the trainer about 3 days after the accident. Just rigged up a sling from an old inner tube so it didn't get too stinky and got those legs moving. Strap your arm to your torso tightly! "

I broke the scapula a week ago and have done no training at all since then. I didn't plan to get on the trainer until the shoulder feels a bit stronger. Do you think getting on the trainer so soon after your crash contributed to the pain you felt later when running? The doc had said to me that I would be in a sling for two or three weeks and then back to training in 6 weeks or so. Was your scapula displaced at all? I guess it all depends on the severity of the break.


Thanks for your advice, I will definitely be diligent with PT - I'll look at it as training and I've always been pretty well-motivated with that.


One last thing - if there was one thing you could differently about your recovery (aside from the PT), what would it be?

Sorry to hear about all those complications, do you have any idea why your shoulder went "off kilter"? How was swimming after the scapula break?

I crashed hard on my bike 8 weeks ago and had fractured scapula along with a concussion and low grade tear on the rotator cuff. I am not sure which injury to the shoulder causing me so much pain but it takes me about 4 weeks of complete rest before I can start exercising again. I find walking hills at 12-15% on the treadmill and biking on a recumbent stationary are good and safe options under the circumstance. Good luck with your recovery!

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Duke

My deltoid got pretty tight and sore, being strapped down and all, but I rolled and massaged it a lot and that helped. I don't think riding hindered the recovery at all. It certainly helped my mental state immeasurably. Massage and especially manual therapy as the bone healing progressed were really helpful as well.

The only thing I would do differently is the PT. Or not crash. But once I *felt* better and was back to racing, the PT fell by the wayside, just because I wasn't prevented from doing what I wanted, athletically, any longer. I'm getting back to it before cross season starts.

Actually, the other thing I'd do is make sure I didn't use the affected arm at all when in a sling. I was trying to do way too much: carrying heavy bags of dog food, moving furniture around, whatever. On one occasion said bag of dog food started to topple out of my good arm and I caught it with the bad one. Terrible idea!

Thanks - its been a struggle.

On looking back on it, I was not only riding Cross, but very committed to Track Riding ( which i still am).
I broke my left scapula, which when turning left on the track, gets more of the compression forces. I think that in my haste to get back, i might have pushed my left side too hard and it compounded the problem with alignment.

Swimming was tough ! And still is....

All this goes to the importance of PT. I believe that with all the injuries we get, messing around with the shoulder, with all that goes on, is not an injury to rush.

Good luck....

I broke my scapula during the bike leg of Ironman Texas in April. I was NOT drafting, and am not the guy in the video being floated around :-). Someone lost control behind me as they were passing and came into me. I ended up falling onto their front fork and aero bars. I broke 8 ribs, broke my scapula and ended up with a punctured and collapsed lung. Got a nice chest tube installed for 4 days. Didn't require surgery for the scapula, as it was clean break and it is displaced by about .75 inch. But no need to fix it says the doctor.

The trauma doctor in Texas told me complete recovery will be 6-12 months. However, he also said I should start doing light exercise and PT as soon as pain management allows. He said after week 4 I should let pain be my guide for everything. It's been 8 weeks now and I am about 90% pain free. I've had a huge breakthrough in pain relief over the last 2 weeks, and no longer have to sleep in a chair. The range of motion in my affected arm is pretty good now.

I was able to ride my trainer for 20-30 minutes at about 4 weeks out, and have been slowly increasing that time. I also started walking with my wife in the first week. In week 3 I would run for 5-10 seconds about 2 minutes apart. It was incredibly painful at first, but got better and I increased the run intervals every couple of days. This morning (8 weeks out), I was able to ride my trainer for 1 hour and run 1.5 miles without walking. Obviously, the ride and run were slow. The doctor keeps telling me if I am smart with the pain, then it's good for me. I really feel like the exercise is helping with my recovery. I'm starting to doubt it will take 6-12 months to get back, as I actually feel pretty good now, all things considered.

For reference, I'm 40 years old and about 6'2" and 180 lbs. I'm sure I would recover faster if I was younger :-)

Woah,that sounds like a really bad crash. I'm amazed you were training and active so soon afterwards, it actually gives me some hope that I can bounce back as fast. I like the idea of "let pain be the guide" but I worry a little that as an endurance athlete I've got a bit used to ignoring pain signals. I'm not even thinking about training just yet, but after reading the advice on here I am starting to move my arm, flex my wrist etc so that it doesn't completely seize up.

Best of luck with the recovery, getting hit from behind is really rough.