Just sitting in ER. In pain. Break looks terrible. It’s +|- for surgery. How do I make this recovery the most positive?
broke mine 2 weeks ago in a crit race… had surgery this past monday. My break was mid-clavicle with a .9cm overlap, so according to the surgeons I was talking to it was a toss-up for surgery. A few days post-surgery and it already feels great! (so to speak).
Rent a cryocuff… awesome for the pain.
Also, if you don’t have a recliner, get one. Will not be able to sleep laying down for a while and a recliner is by far the best way to go.
The pain for me got a TON better just a few days after i broke it, and then again only a few days after surgery, so hang in there.
Also, sports wise, get on your bike trainer! My doctor told me that I could stationary bike post-op as soon as I felt ok. Surgery Monday, was riding Thursday. So now I’m turning these next 6-8 weeks into a giant bike focus and have changed around my race goals for the rest of the year to include more bike racing/time trials/cyclocross and am going to try to crush some dreams in them at the end of the summer and fall.
Sorry to hear about your break. Amazed that you’re able to post in the midst of that. Here’s my n=1 experience from a fairly clean collarbone break last year.
It’s just not a lot of fun at first. It hurts. But there’s a good chance that after a couple of weeks it really will start to improve a lot. But the start is a bitch. I got a huge amount of information from other people’s experiences, and took a whole lot of solace, from Hans Kellner’s site: http://www.hanskellner.com/2003/06/14/broken-clavicle-collar-bone/ Look especially at the hundreds of commenters on his articles. Gives you a sense of the range of what people do.
Even if you mostly need to stay motionless, do what you can to maintain some kind of basic core strength. As a result of staying quite still, after a few days I was finding that it got more and more difficult to sit in most chairs, and practically impossible to lie down (I slept sitting up for a month). That got to be more of a pain than the shoulder itself. I might have averted that by moving around more at first.
Good luck!
nice website, thanks for sharing
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I broke mine last September and had 8cm of separation so surgery was my only option. That said, once you have surgery (Which I recommend) you’ll feel better immediately.
Bob
Broke clavicle and scapula in early 2006. Clavicle was angulated fracture but 2ends were in same ballpark. Scap was non displaced and small but still added to the pain a lot. Did not have surgery and it healed up fine, back on bike outside in 7 weeks,5days. The first 2 weeks suck! Then it starts doing better. I raced once in late season, then had a huge breakthrough the following year. Rest works in mysterious ways.
I broke mine on Memorial Day, 2010. No surgery for me. I rested for about 3 weeks (watched a lot of MLB on TV). Then, got on the trainer and started riding everyday for 3 weeks. After that, I went to the track and started jogging and slowly regained my run form.
Swimming was obviously slower than the others. Started back in the pool with some simple stuff in August, but didn’t have a real swim workout until September 29, even though I competed in my first ever OLY on 9/11 (Just swam an easy pace).
Just don’t try for force the swimming too soon. It’s not worth it.
By the way, the *Burn Notice *writers are making movie about the Chuck Finley character.
Good luck with the recovery.
thanks, everyone! So I have what looks like a great deal of separation. Have to meet surgeon next week to determine treatment .
i really like burn notice. 
I busted mine exactly 2 weeks before you did. I had some separation but there were lots of little fragments and the surgeon suggested - but didn’t insist on - surgery. I ended up doing the surgery about 10 days later, on June 21. It was a great decision for me. In the 10 days before surgery my pain went down but I didn’t see any real improvement in use of my arm. After surgery I had 2 rough days but it got tons better every day after. Now I don’t really have any pain and I have great range of motion. I’m still sore around the incision and my shoulder and trap muscles. But I can use the arm for most everyday tasks. My stitches came out after 8 days and on the 9th day i was on the trainer and elliptical for easy, very low intensity exercise.
Good luck with yours!
I’m having surgery on Tuesday. Hoping to have a full recovery! I’m a little worried about the pain of the first two days and get back to the office (I just sit and type all day).
Welcome to the titanium club, broke mine in '06 with a double displaced fracture and had the surgery as a result. Was able to gradually build up range of motion following the PT’s instruction and could ride a stationary bike right away (my bike was totaled in my crash). Was able to start swimming six weeks after surgery, which ultimately proved to be the best therapy. My crash was in the fall after my season had eneded but I was recovered enough to race again the following spring including doing IMLP that summer.
Best of luck!
broke mine two years ago. Broken in 3 places and tore most of the ligaments holding it down. Plate + 8 screws and a 7" scar to show for it. Absolutely no question as to whether I needed surgery.
Broke it on Friday, had surgery on Tuesday, back on the trainer on Friday. Raced my next sprint 5 weeks later. Swimming took the longest to get back.
It sucks, but on the positive, once you get the plate, there isn’t much you can do to damage it further. Good luck and heal up fast.
Do the surgery, see if you can get the TEN (titanium elastic nail) surgery. I was on a trainer in a few days. My surgeon and therapist weren’t happy, but I was back in the pool 2 weeks after surgery kicking. 4 weeks after I was swimming, running, and cycling. 6 weeks after surgery I started regaining form and speed. 8 weeks after surgery and regaining endurance. I’m about to start week 9 this week, I’ll let you know.
Everyone wants you to rest and keep the arm/clavicle motionless. As you heal, the soft tissue around the break will adhere to the bone, even stuff that isn’t suppose to. This will cause stiffness and a lot of therapy. Stretch your neck side to side often. You can use your arm from the elbow down, but minimize how far away from the body the elbow gets. Yes, you want the bone to heal, but you also want to minimize the soft tissue building up around the clavicle and attaching to it. Keep active. Cycle, strength training with your legs. Kick in the pool when the surgery is closed up. Get the cryo-arm sling that someone else mentioned, really helps. If ribs or intercostal muscles are involved, don’t ice them, heat them.
Do not run with one arm, it throws EVERYTHING off.
I broke mine May 1st, got surgery May 3rd. By June 5th, I was doing everything tri related, just not well. July 3rd, just finished a 20+ hour week, feel great, no clavicle pain nor limits. I plan to be in top form for IMLP in 3 weeks.
My surgeon, my therapist, my family, my friends, and especially my coach got me to this point. Make sure you have the right team to back you up. As I laid in the hospital bed with tubes coming out of me, I emailed everyone that would be on the “recovery team” to make sure they all were in communication with each other. Recovery from an accident/surgery does NOT need to be the same for all genders, ages, and such. Tune into your body and listen to it VERY carefully to know how to proceed.
I’m having surgery with Brent Wiesel at Georgetown. Hopefully he’s trained with the TEN method. He’s young and I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t use the most up to date methodology in his surgical procedures.
Thanks so much for all your advice, everyone! It’s pretty nervewracking to have this procedure. I’m nervous about the pain, the recovery, and the lost time at work. All I have to do is type but it takes a lot of focus.
Depends on your pain management. I decided I wanted to get back to training ASAP due to IMLP and a promise I wanted to keep. I elected to go off the pain meds 1 day after surgery. It hurt like hell. But I needed to feel when I was pushing it too far. I did have to take the pain meds at night to get a least a few hour of sleep.
The recliner chair is a must!!! You will need to sit at an incline. At work it’s not a problem as long as you can avoid movements above the elbow. You don’t need to use the sling if you feel like you have to use muscles to operate around the sling. Just isolate movements by propping your arm in a comfortable position so you can type.
Listen to your body.
concur with recliner. better than percocet.
Sorry about your break. Me, my plate and 7 screws from May 2010 are doing quite well thank you very much.
Three tips … First (sorry for TMI) is to take some fiber or whatever to counteract the pain meds’ effect on your bowel. Second, enjoy some easy time – walk the dog, or stroll with the wifey. You spend the rest of the year chasing the dream of being 5-10 minutes faster while you get another year older. I say “take the cookies when they are passed”. Third, get yourself to a good PT about 4-6 weeks after the surgery.
I was swimming in 6 weeks after surgery and raced an OLY in 95 days after the crash.
Here’s to a speedy recovery.
I actually married the best physical therapist ever–though I wasn’t her patient until my first crash last year ;). But that said, what PT did people do? I thought you just heal up and start in slow to load the muscles and bones in that area.
Glad to hear that people are doing well with the plates. Has anyone removed it after surgery? I heard they like you to wait a year. I’m wondering if it’s worth it. From what I can tell, cold weather living people want it removed. Not sure what that means for me in in dc…
I broke my left clavicle into 5 pieces last May doing a race. Broke my scapula, several ribs and had a punctured lung too. Had surgery June 1st. Was doing passive movement about 6 weeks later and strength training shortly after that. It really did take most of the year for me to get back to normal.
Since then, my fitness is much improved compared to a year ago (been racing for a while). I PRed in Boston this past April. Had 2 great HIM races/results and gearing up for IMLP in a few weeks. Swim, bike and run are all improved compared to pre-accident. So, don’t despair, you will get over this.
My advice (I’m a physician too):
- Ask for a nerve block in addition to any additional anesthesia. Although you will have pain after surgery, this should diminish with a block.
- Eat lots of calcium. My surgeon recommended non-dairy sources like greens (mustard and collards) even sardines.
- Listen to your surgeon on advice about PT. If he/she knows that you are active, they should help you to progress, but don’t push it. You will see gains.
- My surgeon did not want me to take any anti-inflammatories meds like ibuprofen, since he believes they diminish bone healing. Tylenol was OK.
As far as plate removal, the ortho books tell us 18 months is the amount of time one should wait before removing hardware. No one that I know seems to heed that advice however. I could have had my plate and screws removed after 6 months, but I am waiting until this racing season is over. Although I had some problems with discomfort from the plate early on, I don’t notice it now.
PM me if you like.
Broke mine into several pieces about threes year ago. Had the titanium plate put in. I have to tell you, the post surgery pain was worse than that of the initial break. Keep those pain meds handy. However, I was able to do a sprint triathlon about a month later so recovery was fairly quick. Still have the plate in and it really doesn’t bother me much. From time to time it aches, but nothing serious. I’ve even been able to go backpacking, although I’ve only gone on short trips. And yes, they do like to wait a year before removing the plate. Good luck.