when I broke my collarbone the advice was leave it alone and let it heal. It did not heal back end to end so instead it over lapped and so there is a slight bump because of it. It has never been a problem for me and I have many many years of all sorts of activities and not a single issue. So other than faster recovery (as long as no acquired infections or other such things with surgery) the let it heal on its own had no negative consequences for me.

I broke mine twice years ago as a kid, they just let it heal. Similar to above, was an overlap and bit of a bump

Fast forward to bike accident in 2015, massive break and several inch displacement. Surgeon found the prior healing never really built up strong bone and was mostly fibrous, leading to this break (anatomical and medical mistakes here all my own, going by memory).

Bigger the gap the less it may heal properly. I know what I would do given the advice

I might be wrong but I'd assumed there was always an overlap. Maybe if they are pinned or something I can imagine them healing straight. I was told they also heal stronger than before but there is no way I'd know unless I broke them again, which I haven't. (Edited to add but ChrisM just proved that part wrong. I had no gap BTW)

I broke one playing football, wait in A&E, Xray, sling for 6 weeks. Weak arm after took time to get strong again. Sometime later I broke the other going over the front of a bike. It was late at night and I couldn't deal with the hospital wait so took some ibuprofen and had a pretty sleepless 1st night but it was fine. They look the same now so it worked out ok.

I can't help with the decision. What I would say is it isn't over once the bone has healed. I would be asking about the overall recovery. What you can do while you have a sling on, how do you know the best time to get out of the sling and try and get great physio advice for the next stage. Muscles are wasting while they are inactive and the whole thing seizes up. I'm fairly sure I had knock on injuries trying to run while it was still sore and straight out of the sling. You want out of the sling as soon as you can (are they going to guesstimate a safe time or can they examine it regularly and save time that way?) and then do the recovery right.

Sorry to hear about the break.

Will share my experience: I snapped mine in Santa Rosa 70.3 in 2019. Clean break with a big gap. My timeline was crash on Saturday, surgery on Tuesday, back on the trainer a week after surgery, running 3 weeks after that (in a sling - felt good, looked strange), and finally adding swimming about 8 weeks post surgery. I now have a piece of titanium in there and a scar, but other than that I'm back to pretty much 100%.

My sense from talking with the docs was that I could let it heal and it would be less risky than surgery, but it would be a longer timeline and come with potential healing issues. Surgery was the more aggressive option, but assuming no complications, you get a cleaner heal (minus the scar) and a faster timeline. There's always risks with surgery, but it seems like snapped clavs are ortho 101. I'm not a doctor so no idea if this is true, but sounds right :)

If I could go back I would absolutely get the surgery again and am thankful I had the option, but of course, ymmv and trust your doctors.

Good luck!

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Anders

ORIF is a pretty simple surgery even if you have a complex break. My surgeon still intro's me to people as the most complicated ORIF he's had to do. In my case surgery was the only option as my clavicle was in many, many pieces. They kept 5 or 6 of them and tossed the rest away including my AC jt.

I've had athletes who have had big gaps not quite heal and need ORIF after 8-10-12 weeks of letting it try to heal, I've had athletes get plates when they probably shouldn't have but wanted to insure a rapid healing time and get back out to doing stuff sooner vs later. I've had athletes leave it alone and no issues with healing or side effects.

No one can make that decision for you. Ultimately it comes down to how certain you want to be of a strong union between the bone ends and how long you're willing to wait to resume activity. Surgery typically, but not always means, a faster resumption of activities.

My advice is search for some of the fx clavicle threads on ST. There are plenty of us who have unfortunately broken them. You'll get a variety of good/bad stories. For instance I've lost ~ 5% ROM, my clavicle gets achy in really cold weather, my backstroke on that side is not as graceful or as long as it used to be and if I swim too much fly that causes aches later in the day. Without an AC joint I'm not able to smash the bench press world or push up world record since my clavicle is wrapped to the coracoid process.

Heal fast, heal well & welcome to the club!

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Broke mine badly at IM 70.3 New Orleans. Shitty roads. My experience was similar to that of AMC who posted above. I have stainless steel in mine and will forever. It doesn't hurt and there is no reason to go back under general anesthesia just to get it out. My surgeon said liked an aggressive approach - that being a surgical fix vs. the time to heal naturally - especially for active people. That was the selling point for me - was a quicker fix and less time to getting back to being active again. I was skeptical after seeing the xrays that mine would heal naturally and look normal and, in fact, there is some risk that it will not heal naturally. My understanding was that the surgical fix was more of a sure thing for a properly mended bone. I had no loss of mobility or strength after it healed so I was very pleased. Hope it works out for you.

-Doug

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It is the mind itself which builds the body.
-Joseph Pilates

Broke mine in November and posted on this forum with your same exact question.

Doc said it was borderline to get a plate or not. I decided to get the plate as he said I won't have full strength without it. Even though the option was up to me he was glad I went with it. Maybe that was just to reassure me, but felt like I made the right decision. I would say recovery was not fun, especially if you have little kids and can't help the spouse much. Sleeping sucked for awhile, not driving, frozen shoulder, etc.

I couldn't fully function until mid February and now I still feel the plate in there every now and then. It doesn't hurt except when my 4 year old grabs it when she is on my back. I do some strength to help build the muscled around it and I feel if I keep it up I don't feel the plate as much.

My plate is steel, so now I can use the term STEEL IS REAL, and not be a hipster cyclist. Not sure if I'll get it removed or not, I will probably make the call this fall.

I broke mine back in 2008. Both the ER doc and a sports med doc said I was in between needing surgery or not. It took me 2 weeks to get in to see a hand surgeon. Turns out he was a a Cat 3 racer. He said he never wanted to force people into surgery, but recommended it for me. Turns out he cleared his schedule and got me in the next day. Glad I did it.

BTW, sorry to hear about your fracture. You're not the only one right now. I broke my right elbow 4 weeks ago and needed surgery. It was one of those "how the f- did that happen" crashes. Just finishing up a ride on a crushed limestone path in a park. Next thing I know I wake up the next day in the ICU. Someone most have run into me, etc., since nothing mechanically wrong with the bike. Just grateful it was in a park, people were around, the fire station was only 1.5 blocks away, and I was wearing a helmet.

Good luck on the recovery and hope it heals quickly!
-Pete

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"Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps"
Blog = http://extrememomentum.com|Photos = http://wheelgoodphotos.com

I got mine surgically repaired. It's been fine, just make sure to force physical therapy in the discussion.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Thanks to everyone for the input! I'm leaning toward surgery mostly to ensure I can resume activities in a known timeframe and have a strong repair. Sitting around in a sling for weeks waiting to see if the bone callus is forming is going to be hard for me to take mentally. I'll sleep on the decision a few more days and then make the call.

BTW: The ortho didn't push one way or the other, but said that if I were sedentary, then a sling and a wait-and-see approach would be a good choice. Since I'm active, he said surgery would be reasonable.

Not to push you but I'd say make a decision sooner than a few days so you can get on the calendar, the more you wait the more your prolonging the healing time. I broke mine on a Friday, Monday morning the Ortho called me saying ideally they would like to do the surgery on Tuesday before the bone tries to heal itself (they are gonna break anything the healing process has done already). I guarantee, you will feel a lot better 2-3 days as the swelling and shock has calmed down.

BTW, hope its not your dominate arm. Wiping your ass with your non-dominate arm is tricky.

BTW, in the case of AMC above, what he didn’t tell you is he raced IMAZ 12 weeks after the injury where he set a PB and KQed....

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Randy Christofferson(http://www.rcmioga.blogspot.com

Insert Doubt. Erase Hope. Crush Dreams.

My best buddy.
Broke his when we were mountain biking. 2 hospitals both said to leave it to heal itself.

Months and months of being told all was well.

Eventually the senior consultant decided it really wasn't. By which time the bones would not heal.
Needed surgery to re-break then put a load of metalwork on the badly half-healed half-not-healed mess. And a bone graft taken off his hip / pelvis (because the bone breaks were too old to continue to self-repair).

12+ months lost.

In hindsight he should have had the surgery the week it happened.

I'm just gonna say it, but sitting around waiting for it to heal sounds miserable. I broke mine on a Monday and had surgery on Wednesday. That day in the middle was miserable. I couldn't sleep, lift anything, get comfortable etc. Not sure if it's that way for weeks on end without surgery, but after the operation I felt fine within a day. Of course I had to take it easy and couldn't do much with that arm, but the pain was minimal and within a couple weeks I was on the trainer, then back at it. Broke it on Memorial Day, did a triathlon on the 4th of July. My collar bone was in a bunch of pieces too.

As mentioned, it was a fairly easy thing for a good ortho. It felt like one of those things an ortho surgeon does several times a week. Had my surgery at 7:30am, was watching TV at home just after lunch.

Broke mine March 20th. No option, as I destroyed the middle of the bone (graft was required). The ends were not straight, but jagged. 2 hour surgery, titanium plate and 10 screws. I had to wait until the 26th (6 days) because it wasn’t an “emergency” (painful week). Did my first run two weeks after surgery, although it was 1/2 mile walk, 1/2 mile run. Last week I was able to run the whole distance on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (5 miles). But I also had a cracked rib, and that hurt more than the shoulder. Yesterday (3 weeks from surgery) doc said I could ride on the road if I felt like it, as long as I watched the shocks. I’m not riding this week, but may try some next week. Naturally, I can do stationary riding. He did say I still cannot raise my arm above my shoulder or swing it across my body, so no swimming. He said after my follow up appointment in three weeks I probably could start swimming. If so, then no “formal” PT would be required. He was please: I was pleased.

All that to say I’m frankly shocked at how fast it is healing - and I’m 60 years old. My rib is holding me back more than my shoulder. My doc is a shoulder specialist. He said my break was in the top five of worst breaks that he’s seen in 15 years.

You have to decide. I had no option, but am thrilled with the outcome so far.

I’ve already scheduled the surgery but the first opening was not until the end of next week. I am probably going to do it, but will sleep on it tonight and cancel if it doesn’t feel right.

Broke mine 2/11/2006 descending, overcooked a turn. Some overlap but healed without surgery. Minor nerve damage in the fall so Left scapula is “winged” about a centimeter. Didn’t compete for about a year. Reach is slightly less so swim technique had to be adjusted. Took awhile before I could get on aero bars again. Don’t think surgery would have made much difference for me and honestly, at the time most ortho docs were less enthusiastic about the procedure. 15 years later, it is much more commonplace and many have benefited from the repair.

Broke right and left collar bones years apart, first one was like someone drew a line through it, no real separation or anything, no surgery and it took a few months to heal fully but no last issues, back to 100% with no visual evidence it was broken. Two years ago broke the other one and it was a “Z” fracture with one end poking up but didn’t break the skin, that one I needed surgery on and was a much quicker recovery and I still have the plate in but I will say it is not as strong as the one that healed on its own, when doing overhead presses I can feel it still and it doesn’t feel as strong. Perhaps if I had the plate removed and then let it heal it’d be fine but it doesn’t both me that much to go through all that again.

Curious, how is traveling through airports with the plate? Do you just tell security and show them the scar?

Also do you have a fear that you can't get an MRI with the plate in?

Never had an issue with either.

My resume:
Collarbone: Plate + 10 screws
Hip: 3 screws.

I'm an advocate for getting it repaired.

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I talk a lot - Give it a listen: http://www.fasttalklabs.com/category/fast-talk
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The above poster has eschewed traditional employment and is currently undertaking the ill-conceived task of launching his own hardgoods company. Statements are not made on behalf of nor reflective of anything in any manner... unless they're good, then they count.
http://www.AGNCYINNOVATION.com

I also have a plate & 10 screws #twinning. I've only had 1 TSA agent go who said they needed to wand my clavicle since having it repaired.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

The only time it was ever a thing was when I was in a sling. It's never been a problem with metal detectors or x-rays.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Why wouldn't you get it surgically repaired?!

This was not even a question for me: Plate + 7 screws.
Racing TTs 4 weeks post op.

I've never had any TSA questions.
I've not had an MRI since.
Repair lights up a DEXA scan.

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no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here

I have a stainless steel plate + 10 screws in my clavicle. Never had any TSA issues and I fly (or flew, pre-COVID) a lot.

I’ve had several MRIs since and it’s not an issue. My understanding is that this is because it’s so well bonded to the bone. No X-ray tech or radiologist has even raised an eyebrow when I told them about it. FWIW, I also have permanent retainers behind my teeth and that’s not an issue for MRIs either.

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It is the mind itself which builds the body.
-Joseph Pilates