Went down on the bike over the weekend and it resulted in a broken collar bone. I’m going to the Ortho tomorrow but wondering how long it took others to begin running, swimming and biking outdoors.
I just got a Kickr so I am hoping to get on there in a day or two to keep up some fitness. I have Chattanooga in Sept. for my 3rd IM.
The Doc seems to think I wont require surgery and the bones will fuse together but I still need to see the Ortho. Any thought on what I should ask tomorrow?
Here is 5 weeks post op (6/15/14)- you can see some of the fracture, some is covered by the screws. It ended up being 3 pcs put back together.
Doc cleared me for ROM excersice with arm supported on wall for 1wk, then start unsupported ROM for 2wks then strength PT with bands.
I am cleared to run starting tomorrow (6/29/14) bike outside in another wk and swim in 2 more was. I also started getting in the aero bars on the trainer, man recovery hurts almost as bad as breaking it!
I missed out on IM Wisconsin last year when I broke my collar bone in August.
As for recovery time - I was back in the pool with some minor pain at 7 weeks. I’m 50 years old. My A race was over so I didn’t attempt to run or bike until later when I started my next year training plan.
I would think running would take at least 3 weeks due to the pain and the need to heal. Biking maybe 4/5 weeks. Let the pain be your guide, and follow your doctor’s advice.
Good news is that collar bones heal well. I have no pain or other noticeable after-effects whatsoever.
Last year when I broke mine (required surgery and a plate), the regimen went like this:
Was allowed to spin easy on a trainer one week after surgery (might have been two).
Was not allowed to ride outside for 5.
Was not allowed to run or swim for 7 if memory serves correct.
My doctor kept checking the speed at which the bone was healing, and that’s what determined what I was allowed to do. The doctor also told me that he let me do a lot of those because of the plate, and it would have been longer without it.
It really depends on the degree of the injury and the healing time.
I really f*cked mine up when I did it. Surgery about 8 days after the break.
10screws and a plate, several of the screws where just screwing fragments of bone to other fragments of bone and then the closest fragment was screwed to the plate. Also had my AC jt removed since it really wasn’t there anymore although it was about 2.5-3 inches medially when they found it and had my clavicle taped to my coracoid process for stability.
It was 7-10d post op before I got cleared to do anything other than walking. It was about 6 or so more weeks before I was allowed to run and another 2 before allowed to ride outside.
Probably took me about 4 months post op to gain 85% of my ROM which is where I am today about 54weeks post op. It was about 5 months before I could hold an aero position.
Todaythe only things I really can’t do are push ups, bench press since I don’t have the stability of a normal joint. Swimming no problem, pull ups no problem, chest press on machines is possible.
Your looks really nice compared to mine. I’m jealous.
You should be able to spin pretty soon, but you will have to sit up and not put your hands on the bars. Hard to do complicated workouts, but its better than nothing. Then eventually you will be able to spin normally with some weight on your shoulders (work on your core doing most of the weight support). You should be able to start running around the same time too. Then you’ll be able to start riding outside, which is more jarring. A few weeks later and you’ll be able to hit the pool. Hopefully your arms won’t have weakened as much as mine did.
Just ask the doc what kind of timeline they want you to wait before “trying” stuff. Usually the bone will be healed enough to where you can’t really hurt it by the time you can actually deal with the discomfort of working out with it not being 100%, but you may have an extraordinary pain threshold. Mine sucks, so that was my main limiter. The bone was healed weeks before I could handle the discomfort. My first swim back lasted about 300 yards (after 7 weeks).
That looks a little worse than mine, but I cracked 4 ribs, too.
I started on the recumbent bike trainer at the gym after 11 days and swimming after 17 days. The swimming hurt and I didn’t overdo it; I think it helped with recovery. My doc had me doing range-of-motion exercises from the beginning, which hurt like hell but I believe helped a lot. Started easy jogging after 3.5 weeks.
I was able to jump back into my IM training plan fully after 6 weeks.
Well, as long as the bones fit back together, more or less, you can start riding indoors pretty quick but no weight on that shoulder. In fact, you want to keep it back as much as you can. I found that sleeping on my good side with my other arm behind my back helped to pull the shoulder into alignment overnight, especially at the start.
I was back on the motorbike, as a passenger, within a week but still couldn’t ride for long, too much bouncing around.
It is a good time to go to the gym and work on a leg press and leg only exercises. After a week or so, you can get on the trainer and do 1 legged spins etc. I suppose you could do some really fun kick sets :), maybe 1 arm drills?
I had mine plated, doc had me starting ROM exercises that day. I was spinning again about a week later initially on a recumbent at the gym (also had broken ribs and collapsed lung), will echo what others have said about staying upright out of the aero bars with no pressure on the injury until the doc says OK. Got back in the pool about three weeks after surgery (look up Doug Stern’s Sewing Machine Drill in the archives as it was a huge help for me with ROM). Running was about eight weeks if I remember right. My injury was in the fall so I was recovered enough to do IMLP the following summer.
Thanks for all the feedback,
It looks like I might just have enough time to get in shape for Chatt. If I keep some fitness up.I Have a road bike I’ll be setting up on the trainer so I don’t put weight on the shoulder.
I though about setting a treadmill up on the highest incline level and walking, not sure if it would benefit me.
That’s a significant amount of shortening, although the x-ray angle is off a bit. We (orthopedic surgeons) are getting more aggressive with surgical repair when there is more than minimal displacement. So don’t be surprised if your consulting surgeon suggests surgery.
If it was my clavicle, I’d have it plated. Probably faster healing and earlier return to training, and definitely better alignment. Good luck!
That’s a significant amount of shortening, although the x-ray angle is off a bit. We (orthopedic surgeons) are getting more aggressive with surgical repair when there is more than minimal displacement. So don’t be surprised if your consulting surgeon suggests surgery.
If it was my clavicle, I’d have it plated. Probably faster healing and earlier return to training, and definitely better alignment. Good luck!
Mine was plated, worse part was getting the pre surgery IV. Basically good as new right away and the surgical wound is what holds you back. I was on the trainer lightly spinning a few days later. No pt or anything.
I had a radius head fracture in December and bought a Kickr not long after and was training a couple weeks later. I did some physio in the pool not long after breaking it too, but definitely no proper swimming, took me well over 6 weeks before i was doing even a bit of freestyle.
The fracture is the whole reason i got into triathlon as i was bored and thought i’d have a go at running.
I had a similar break two years ago in my early 50s. No surgery. Surgeon looked at it and said it will be fine without surgery, which was great by me! On the trainer in a couple of weeks. Running came later and swimming last. It was about 3 months I guess before I was able to go back to normal workouts. No problems at all now.
That blows! I snapped mine last June a bit more distal than that. I’m glad you are relatively okay; cycling accidents can end much worse.
When you start walking around in a sling, everybody who has ever broken a collarbone starting coming out of the woodwork.
From those shared war stories, I felt like the people that had surgery got back to action much quicker. I was pedaling within a week, couldn’t run for probably a month and it hurt too much to swim until about 2 months. The ends of mine didn’t start to connect until the 6-8 week mark though. YMMV. It was pretty dang frustrating working so hard during the winter and spring just to take the summer off and miss out on several races (and learning all about non-refundable races). Lots of good things happened too during that time and I hope that your recovery also has surprise blessings.
I have a hard time with the “it won’t** require** surgery” angle for a full break. Sure the ends of the bone will eventually find a way to attach. What it will require is hardly doing anything for the next month or two.
My posture was also pretty bad during the recovery which eventually affected my hips/back and required some PT this winter/spring. To this day, I can’t fall asleep without the same weird setup of being on my side with a pillow under one knee and another pillow holding my arm up and out. Again, YMMV, but you are here to gain a collective perspective. This can be a scary time of denial, disappointment, and false hope. Again, I wish you the best of lucky in recovery.
That’s a significant amount of shortening, although the x-ray angle is off a bit. We (orthopedic surgeons) are getting more aggressive with surgical repair when there is more than minimal displacement. So don’t be surprised if your consulting surgeon suggests surgery.
If it was my clavicle, I’d have it plated. Probably faster healing and earlier return to training, and definitely better alignment. Good luck!
You had it correct, He did say there was some shortening but the angle did not show if there was displacement so he took a couple more and there is significant displacement where the bones are not actually touching.
Surgery is set up for Tuesday AM. to repair it with a plate.
I had a distal fracture and I’m about seven weeks post surgery with a plate. I am currently in PT. I only recently started back lightly on the trainer as i can’t put too much pressure holding the bar with the broken side. Plus I am scare of falling out of the trainer and breaking it again (even though that has never happened, go figure mind games). I spent about a week after my injury researching repair methods (plate vs hook plate vs rods) and consulted two surgeons. I found the best guy in my city and went for it.
I’m happy i got it handled. Just wondering if the plate is going to bug me in a wet suit because of the distal nature of my break.
I was riding on trainer after 4 days.
I was swimming with one arm after 9 days.
I was running with arm in sling (up hill on treadmill) after two weeks.
I was running on road with arm out of sling after 4 weeks.
I was swimming with both arms after 7 weeks.
Set pr for IM 13 weeks.
