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Collar bone Fracture, ORIF
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Well, finally happened, fractured my clavicle. Seat post broke at 40kmh in aero position. No time to react and I hit the ground hard. Break was on a Friday and initial x-rays showed good alignment. X-ray on Monday and fracture displaced by 1.5inch. Surgery (plate) was on Wednesday (1 week ago yesterday).

Started on Neo on Tuesday (60min). I have light pain over incision, some hypoesthesia, stiffness, but no pain in clavicle. I can hold my bars but have been avoiding it.

Anyone have some good recovery stories from this injury?
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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I broke mine a few years ago but didn't require surgery. Did a Half at 7 weeks after and a full at about 12. The break healed really quickly, recovery from having my should immobilized for a few weeks took months. Keep your shoulder moving as much as your doctor will allow.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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Keep the ROM exercises going as much as possible. I had the surgery 12 years ago, also had broken ribs and collapsed lung at same time so my overall recovery period was a bit longer, but the basic range of motion stuff at first was key and once I got cleared to get back in the pool (6 weeks post-op) focused mainly on regaining my stroke at first. Doug Stern's sewing machine drill (in the archives here) was a huge help, as was doing yoga. FWIW, I was able to get back to racing the following season and did IM 9 months post-crash.

Hope this helps, good luck!



"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [Thom] [ In reply to ]
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How was being in the aero position at 7 weeks?

I am cleared for pendulum exercises only until follow up next Thursday. Hard to follow that when I have so little discomfort.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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TA3 wrote:
How was being in the aero position at 7 weeks?

By that time the pain was gone so it wasn't a problem. Swimming with a limited range of motion and almost no training was the biggest issue. Swim a lot once you are cleared to swim, it helped me a lot with improving range of motion.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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OMG. Any idea why your seat post broke? Scary.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [robot_ap] [ In reply to ]
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Nope.
Specialized Transition. Got up and looked at my broken post with nary a scratch on the seat...
Bike has many many km's on it, and I had adjusted seat angle the morning of the ride. Maybe I overtightened it..
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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Well first of all that’s a nightmare scenario. Damn

Break and surgery July 2015. I followed the docs advice and didn’t run for about 10 weeks. Everything else was pain dependent.

Did Oceanside 2016 and IM Cozumel 6 or so months later.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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Broke my collarbone 6 months ago (Christmas eve). Had surgery the same day. I used my arm/shoulder as much as I could to get range of motion back. I never wore a sling. Was biking indoors (hands on bull horns) within 1 week. Started doing very light (and very slow) swimming at week 5 just to develop some strength and get range of motion back. Was fully released to ride outdoors in aero after week 7.

blog
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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I know of two people who recently broke their collarbone and required surgery for a plate. Three weeks later they raced motocross. Herlings is the top MXGP rider and was forced to race to maintain his points lead. He won on a very rough track - two 30 min races. The second guy I know had to place at a region race to secure his spot to the amateur nationals. I think his race was two weeks after surgery. Ouch is all I can say.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [stevej] [ In reply to ]
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stevej wrote:
Broke my collarbone 6 months ago (Christmas eve). Had surgery the same day. I used my arm/shoulder as much as I could to get range of motion back. I never wore a sling. Was biking indoors (hands on bull horns) within 1 week. Started doing very light (and very slow) swimming at week 5 just to develop some strength and get range of motion back. Was fully released to ride outdoors in aero after week 7.

I wonder if I could use the bars. It is pain free when I have done so to date.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?do=search_results&search_forum=forum_1&search_string=clavicle+fracture&search_type=AND&search_fields=sb&search_time=&search_user_username=&group=no&sb=post_time&mh=80

Literally 100's of people over the years on here have fx'd their clavicle and had ORIF

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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Good tips above. Just a reminder not to freak out. You will be back sooner than you think. I had to wait a week to schedule surgery so my recovery seemed slow and I thought I'd never get better. Then things picked up quick. I was back riding outside just over 5 weeks post surgery.

I was just racing bikes that year and I was fully back into my pre-crash training routine and intensities by 8 weeks post surgery and back to racing not too long after that. One limiter I had for a bit was that while I had decent fitness when I came back, my shoulder was weak and a bit painful at times so it made bike handling on intense group rides a bit challenging. I literally cried the first time I tried to bunny hop a pothole and for several weeks I found myself forgoing the draft to find smooth pavement but most of that would not have been an issue if I was riding solo and could pick my routes and lines. If you can just spin on the trainer a couple times a week you'll be able to hang on to most of your fitness. If you can do some work, you won't miss much of a beat at least on the bike. In fact, it turned out that while I missed a bunch of bike races, my mini rest in May/early June left me a bit fresher than a lot of people I was racing against come August that year.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [STP] [ In reply to ]
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Today was 3rd day on the trainer. Road a 1hour sweet spot workout. Felt fine holding onto the bars. No pain, just stiffness. I only bike, no races but ITT this year.
Last edited by: TA3: Jul 5, 18 13:12
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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Broke collarbone on 5 May. Surgery with metal plate on 19 May. Took me twelve days to get back on the trainer, another nine to get outside. First group ride little more than three weeks after surgery, and last week I did a bunch of (not too technical) mountain biking.

Was supposed to do a 90 km race this weekend, but got sick and have to cancel.

My physio therapist (who works with Olympic athletes) and a friend who is an orthopedist adviced me to keep going as long as it didn’t hurt. And not to crash again, as it might be bad.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [StaffanS] [ In reply to ]
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My experience is similar. Operation on 22nd May, on Turbo 8 days later. 4 weeks after op I was told I could go back on the road bike (felt like i could have done it earlier) and start running (felt like I could have done that earlier too). I have full range of motion back (6 weeks after op) and don't feel I've lost much strength. I anticipate being 100% recovered in 2 more weeks, at which point I will start snowboarding and mountain biking on technical trails where the risk of falling is quite high.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [StaffanS] [ In reply to ]
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Awesome.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [rmt] [ In reply to ]
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Awesome.
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Re: Collar bone Fracture, ORIF [TA3] [ In reply to ]
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The worst thing about the op was the extensive nerve damage in the skin around the shoulder. Light pressure anywhere around my shoulder would be extremely unpleasant - not painful, but unpleasant. Driving with a seatbelt across my shoulder was really irritating. Hard pressure on the skin was fine, it was just light pressure. However, over time that has subsided and whilst it is still a little numb it is no longer unpleasant. Don't worry, it goes!!
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