as he said, not much to do but heal. It is in the luck of the cards. My right arm is now longer.

I broke my left clavicle in a bike crash (glad I was shaven; entire left side rashed.....still have scars after 3 years). Mid clavicle break....clean through. Doc gave me a sling but did research and added a S brace (I think that's what it's called.....do as much research as possible) I also added calcium tabs to my diet.

Was walking after 2 days, on a trainer the second week. I had been training for an IM so I couldn't just stop all training......in fact was eventually powerwalking 30 miles a week and riding the trainer 160-210.....it was TdF time on TV.

3 1/2 weeks after my accident, x-rays showed the bone fusing together so the Doc cleared me for above the shoulder activities....started easy swimming soon thereafter once the rash was able to tolerate water.....mostly kicking and one-arm stuff.

The one complication was some nerve impingement in that left arm.....brachial plexus compression. That occured about 3 months after the break...... did a lot of swimming to fix that.

Anyways good luck......do your research and all will be well.

Conrad

thanks for the feedback. i am wearing a figure 8 brace and started taking in a little extra calcium. mine is a mid break too and medium in severity. last night sucked for sleeping. today the bones move much less than yesterday, a nice feeling.
s

My break was a bit more extreme where it was in three separate pieces and required surgery, but one thing that helped at first was basic range of motion exerices such as letting the arm dangle and lightly sway back and forth as well as doing small circles in each direction and eventually expanding the circle width. Another one involved using a broom handle and going side-to-side and then raising it straight out in front of me, eventually to where I could raise it over my head. Another was standing in a door frame and slowly letting my hand slide up along the frame to the point where I could eventually get it over my head. I was back in the pool a few weeks after the surgery doing drills and eventually regaining my swim stroke (do a search on Doug Stern's sewing machine drill for an excellent explanation as I can't do it justice).

Hope this helps, good luck!

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

The only bone I've ever broken (knocking on wood!) and I did it snowboarding in 1999. Mine broke in the middle, and it wasn't really "severe", but hurt like an SOB, especially when trying to sleep or shower for the first two weeks. Keep that figure 8 brace on and keep it as immobile as possible for a couple of weeks. Mine healed completely in about 5 1/2 weeks with no ill effects. Hang in there!

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My business-eBodyboarding.com

Mine is the cautionary tale. I broke mine in December '03, it hadn't fused by April when I finally got surgery. Then it was fine. Before that, it was growing into a huge glob of bone. It had broken in the middle, but along two fracture lines. There was a little piece in the middle, so it was fusing like a lightning bolt. All the doctors told me to just let it heal, until 4 months in when one finally advised surgery. I would have saved a lot of pain and suffering if I'd gotten surgery right away.

thanks for the info and sharing your experiences. i go to see any ortho specialist on Monday just to make sure all is well. it is feeling btter, maybe that is the Percocet. Sleeping last night did suck.
s

I broke mine last year in January in three pieces, freaked out and consulted ST. I got a lot of different advice from a lot of people, but I think that the most important piece was that I should not stop moving. Work on range of motion every day to prevent the shoulder from freezing.

After two weeks I was back running, in 5 weeks I was swimming almost like usual.

Also, the figure-8 is really important to prevent shortening of the bone. Keep i tight so that it holds back your shoulder in a normal position. It can hurt quite a bit but it's worth it in the long run. Keep it on all the time til the bones mend together (approx. 4-6 weeks) but you can take it off for relief or when you're swimming.

Check out my thread from then,
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...t_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

awesome news. thank you. i will follow all the tips.
s

1. How old are you?
2. Male or female?
3. Are the ends of the break aligned (i.e. "touching")?
4. Is there only one break, or are there any "pieces" in there.

When I broke my collarbone back in 2004 I found a recently published paper from Scotland that allows one to estimate the risk of nonunion over various time frames based on the above factors. For me, being over 40 and with the ends of the break not aligned (in fact, they were overlapped) and with an extra piece broken off in the middle, it turned out that the predicted chance of my break being healed after 24 weeks was ONLY 20-30%.

It went a long way towards convincing my ortho to go in an put in a plate after I suffered for a month.

If you'd like to see it, PM me.

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

I've broken both mine, with the seconds the bones were pretty far apart and if I had it to do over I would have had an operation, the healthing took quite a while before I felt confident racing again.

For sleeping, a reclining chair was home for a few weeks, I called a rent to own and got one for a month, it helped a lot.

I am a 37 yr old male
The ends are overlapped, touching and broken in one spot- in the middle.
I would be interested in any info you could provide from the paper you referenced.
I work as a firefighter- so I am looking at 6 weeks off of work, but hope to start back on a recumbent bike in a few days.
Thanks,
S

That is a great idea and my in laws already offered to bring on over, but I turned them down due to troubling them. Renting sounds like a good option.

Scott,

Bummer. Good luck with the healing process. See you this summer.

Well...according to the paper, using the above info, the researchers say that the probabilities of a non-union (i.e. break hasn't healed) if "standard" treatment is used (i.e. immobilization, either sling or figure-8 brace) is:

~95% at 6 weeks
~50% at 12 weeks
~15% at 24 weeks

IMO, that might be something to talk over with your doc...especially considering that you work in a field requiring physical effort with your upper body.

Hope that helps...

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

"Also, the figure-8 is really important to prevent shortening of the bone. Keep i tight so that it holds back your shoulder in a normal position. It can hurt quite a bit but it's worth it in the long run."

Can you support that statement?

Dave

It's a way of holding the shoulder in place. It is common practice with clavicle fractures, though I know that they have different routines in different countrys. In some they almost always operate, in some they don't do shit and just let it heal by it self. I've broken mine three times and ended up with a fig-8 all three times and have been happy with the results.

If you're looking for scientific proof you'll have to search for it yourself, good luck on finding some consensus!

yea i got the figure 8 on and tighten just a bit each day to get my shoulders back. sleeping really sucks, gotta get a lazy boy recliner. i go to my ortho dr on monday so i will post any info i receive.

Not wishing to souds unhelpful but if you search posts around start of June you will find a lot of helpful info from when I broke mine. Refine the search using my user name and it should narrow it down. I'll look for you but am on my way out the door.

Good luck and be patient.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

figure of 8 braces are worthless..there are many studies confirming this..very few if any shoulder specialists use them

Why are they worthless?

they are worthless because they dont really change the position of the two ends of the bone, and they do not change the position that the clavicle ultimatly heals in. Emergency rooms still give them out, and knowledgable orthopedists then take them off and just put on a sling

The opposite happend to me. At the ER I got a sling, painkillers and was told to not exercise for 2 months. At the sports med. orthopedist (knowledgeable) I recieved a fig-8 and instructions to keep it tight. He also thought it was a good idea to start moving as soon as possible.

go do a literature search..he's not that knowledgable