Broken Collarbone Question

Triathlon Forum
1

So this weekend I had the unfortunate experience of going over my bars and breaking my left collar bone in two places.

On Saturday morning I was only 1 mile away from home on an 85 mile ride (Strava Grand Fondo challenge complete). So i was just riding along a little over 20 mph trying to dodge sugar cane droppings on the road when next thing i know i’m flying over the handle bars crashing into the ground. My whole left side it pretty cut up, jersey is destroyed. I stand up pull myself and bike off the road and lay in the grass. Two very nice ladies stop and help take me home. At the ER the nurse tells me it looks pretty bad and the NP confirms the double break on the left collarbone (i could feel it by touching it). Their course of action is one hydrocoden and a sling and you can or can not call the orthopedic surgeon Monday morning. Needless to say I’m going to call the orthopedic surgeon.

My questions are:

  1. I plan to do the Ironman Houston in May. I have a good base completed two half’s this year. I am hoping to be back on the trainer in z2 in three weeks if not sooner?
  2. I was planning on running the Houston Marathon in January this would be my third year in a row to run it. Is this out the window?
  3. How long will this hurt for does it eventually stop hurting and just become uncomfortable until it is finally healed?

!(<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2cgodch&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i61.tinypic.com/2cgodch.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>)

2

http://i61.tinypic.com/2cgodch.jpg
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3

Sorry to hear about that. It is quite painful for several days but does eventually subside. Mine broke clear in half but didn’t come out of the skin, I didn’t see orthopedics about it, and it healed fine but everyone will be different. I was able to ride a recumbent stationary about 4 days later and was riding a road bike outside within a month but I wouldn’t recommend that. It was obviously not healed and it would have been bad if I’d crashed again. I was unable to work (firefighter/medic) for 12 weeks since heavy lifting was out of the question.

I’d say you could still make IM Texas if you’re willing to do some indoor bike training. As far as the January marathon, that will be up to how much pain you can tolerate. Good luck with it.

http://oi61.tinypic.com/snjku8.jpg

4

It really depends on the nature of the break. Mine was the nuisance type that didn’t hurt too much because the bone didn’t move much, based on where it broke. I was on the trainer in 48 hours and back on the bike in about 2 months. I don’t think I lost fitness, but maybe a little endurance. I couldn’t image running within two months though because what little bit I tried felt too jarring.

5

Hang in there. Broke mine in two places in middle of July. Raced Kona in October. Five months later I completed the most pull ups without assistance in my life. Info and some cool pics here: http://fewomen.com/2014/08/clavicle-chronicles/

6

it depends if they fix it or let it heal. The later case you can be on the trainer in a few weeks, reaching out is painful so maybe ride a mtb on the trainer at first. Swimming i’m not sure, might be tougher.

with surgery you get back quick but don’t overdo it and tear the screws out

try sleeping in a recliner chair if you can’t get comfortable

7

If you can, GET THE SURGERY! I broke mine in 3 places just under two years ago and the surgery provided immediate relief and helped speed up the recovery time. The only lingering side-effects I had about 6-months later were numbness around the site and I know when it’s about to storm/pressure drops—collarbone starts aching.

First step: read this, but make sure you’re on a bunch of pain meds before you do—hilarious: http://www.hanskellner.com/2004/05/20/what-to-expect-from-a-broken-clavicle/

Then there are some similar broken collarbone stories out on the threads if you google it but my tips:
-if you can get it, try to get one of the ice machines that pumps ice water around your shoulder. I stayed hooked up to one of those for nearly a week post-op and it seriously aided in recovery and pain management
-if you want to try to get back on the bike, I recommend tri bike on the trainer since it hurts to lean forward but loosen up your aerobars and rotate them 90-degrees-ish so bars face the sky—you can hold on without hunching over.

If any consolation, you picked a great time to have this happen - enjoy the time off and you will be back in no time.

  1. you will be fine for IMTX. I did IMMT 6-months to the day after getting hit by the car and did a 10:13 for my first Ironman—if you have the fitness going in and can ramp back up post-surgery, you’ll be fine
  2. I would not hold your breath for the Houston Marathon - I was in pain walking until about week 3 and then running was more painful than I expected - wasn’t allowed to start back up until week 6 or so.
  3. Immediate relief from that searing/my-bones-are-grinding pain post-op, then I would say minor every day pain for about a month and then situational pain for 2-3 months depending on damage/activity. Getting back to swimming was the worst for me.

Looks like you might be in Texas - if you get the chance, Dr. Doug Ellenz in Austin is amazing and thankfully was in network for me. He got me back on my feet in no time (and also did a similar collarbone surgery for this forum’s favorite guy to hate/love): http://instagram.com/p/WM_BHrwPtb/

8

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I’m in way south Texas and can only find one MD who even offers the surgery, maybe i’ll start checking bigger cities. I’m only 28 I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with a deformed collarbone and possible shoulder rotation limitations.

9

I broke mine in two places and opted not to get surgery. The breaks were very close together. I ended up with a shorter collarbone and a nice bump. I rehabbed aggressively- swimming easy and slowly as soon as it knitted together. My right shoulder is now shorter than the left. I get trigger points easily because of the change in bio-mechanics of the shoulder. Everything seems to work as it should, but probably not as comfortably as it used to. If I ever have another bike wreck, and I hope I don’t, if I re-broke that collarbone, I would try to get it fixed back to OEM specs.So I would say get the surgery if you can. Worrying about any race in the upcoming year would be short sighted. Make the decision on the rest of your life. You will have other years and other races. You only have one body. Fix it correctly.

10

http://i62.tinypic.com/bjaey0.jpg

Just picked this up from the hospital, I think it needs fixing but i’m no doctor.

11

My experience: I had some a$$hole break my collarbone for me (playing in a touch football league I got knee’d in the back of my shoulder blade going for for a catch on a low thrown ball…I still wish I had a chance to return the favor…that entire team was/still are dickheads and took the games way too seriously). Compound fracture broken in two places so I had the broken bone floating in the middle. The way it broke it would be better to avoid surgery and let it heal on its own. It took about 5 weeks before I wanted to even attempt to put on non-button up shirts. About 7-8 weeks I was doing some wall pushups to help strengthen it (still couldn’t handle running even and still had a hard time even walking fast let along try to jog) with eventually decreasing the angle to regular floor pushups (which was at about week 12 or so for me). It was probably 4 total months before I felt 100% ok actually and I was 29 when this happened. All that time my shoulder was stiff and it took awhile to get a full range of motion back (from lack of use/movement from being in a sling for forever it seemed). I still to this day have some shoulder stiffness from that too every now and then(6 years later).

Good luck to you as everybody is different but I’d avoid surgery as much as possible as your body may not like the foreign objects in there. I now have a nice big lump where the bone healed and my left collarbone is now stronger than before (since it is probably 50% thicker at the original break points). It sometimes aches though with weather changes (change in pressure when it is about to rain) every now and then.

12

Distal fracture in August of 2013, raced IMWI three weeks later. It hurt like hell that day, and I had to throw my estimated time out the window, but its more than doable. I know there’s a few searchable threads from other folks who had a similar experience. FWIW, I elected to wait to look into surgery until after the race, and at that point, I decided a little bump on the shoulder wasn’t worth getting fixed.

13

Broke mine in a bike crash nearly 2 years ago and it was very similar to your own, only my free fragment was a little shorter (maybe about 1.5 inches). Saw the ortho the next day for X-rays, got the sling, etc. We let it ride for 10 days to see if it would re-align. It didn’t. My fragment had turned on end and started ‘falling’ out of place. I was very apprehensive on the surgery until the doc stood me in front of a mirror and showed me the huge discrepancy in shoulder width. Doc said that they push surgery harder in younger patients - even though we may heal better we have to live with the consequences of a bad healing or non-union for a lot longer than 50-60, etc year olds.

I had the surgery a couple days later and everything went well. Plate and 7 screws. Pain relief was massive and immediate. Function of the arm returns very quickly. I was up on the trainer a week post op and riding outside after 2 (in hindsight it should have been 3!), and back racing on the road after about six weeks (again, should have waited for 8).

As others have reported there is some lingering numbness around the surgery site. It’s mostly gone after all this time but it takes awhile. I haven’t had the hardware out yet since it doesn’t bother me much. I could at any time, once I hit the right place at the end of a season.

Many people will push you one way or another on the surgery. The above is my experience. Some people do just fine without surgery. But if you have the double break w/ free fragment, IMHO the knife is the way to go.

14

If you have the option of surgery, get it done asap. Just a personal view based on my experience but don’t leave it to “chance” that it will resolve by itself as you will always have some degree of ongoing issues. Worst case is it doesn’t heal properly and you will have to have surgery down the track which will mean more lost time.

15

Everyone is different, but to add to the stories I broke mine in one spot on the last Saturday in June. Similar story, going easy at the end of a long ride and hit a joint in the concrete wet from the scattered showers I’d just celebrated dodging. My orthopedic surgeon doesn’t recommend surgery for breaks like I experienced unless its a pro sports player that has to be back on the field ASAP. I think the surgery was higher risk than resting it.

I was on the trainer riding my road bike z2/z3 by Monday. It took a bit of time to be able to move my arm down and have both arms on the hoods again. I put in a lot of time on the trainer and I had to take 5 weeks off of running. As soon as the road rash healed, I did do some kick sets in the pool: wear a snorkel, arms at side, and kick.

I was out of the pool 11 weeks and off from running 5. I started swimming with shorter sets and no paddles, and then increased duration before adding paddles. I was swimming at my fastest pace ever the week I wrecked, and I’m about back to that pace with no range of motion or strength issues, and no pain.

16

My surgery was July 3. 8 pins and a plate. Was on the trainer end of July. The hardest part was the sleeping sitting up, sort of, and cracked ribs. I stayed away from the hard stuff except for crash day and surgery day, night. Motrin 600 was key after that.
It wasn’t that painful, overall, but a grind with the throbbing day to day and the crappy sleeping and the drugs from surgery day.
Good luck. Get that thing pinned.

17

Needed surgery for mine where it was a double placement that tented at two points (x-Ray looked like boat going under a raised drawbridge where there was a small piece of bone just by itself). Mine came later in the year as my season had just ended so I was able to recover over the winter and resume racing the following spring, including having a good day at IMLP.

18

I broke my collar bone in early May of this year. I had surgery and was back on the trainer within a couple days, albeit just doing 30 minutes or so. (The problem/limiter was the discomfort of riding no handed, not my legs or how I felt physically). After about 4 weeks I could get my hand on the handlebars so got back to riding pretty hard on the trainer then back outside 6 weeks post surgery. I was in great shape on the day of my accident and in fact was going to do a bike race the next day so my time off did not have a huge affect on my cycling long term. It took me about 6 weeks to get back to where I was before the accident and I did some crits later in the summer and did about as well as I would have expected to do if I had not been off the bike. I was not planning on swimming or running this summer so it did not directly affect triathlon. I doubt my running would have been affected any differently than my cycling. Swimming would have been tough.

As to your specific questions:

1) I plan to do the Ironman Houston in May. I have a good base completed two half’s this year. I am hoping to be back on the trainer in z2 in three weeks if not sooner?

I bet you’ll have no problem.

2) I was planning on running the Houston Marathon in January this would be my third year in a row to run it. Is this out the window?

It depends on how it feels to run leading up to the race but its possible.

**3) How long will this hurt for does it eventually stop hurting and just become uncomfortable until it is finally healed? **

Depends on how you define “hurt.” I did not have a lot of what I would consider pain and it did not “hurt” all that much within a week of the surgery. And, frankly, even when I was on the side of the road, it did not hurt if I did not move ;-).

On the other hand, its been 7 months and its is still uncomfortable in certain situations. For example, I just recently regained my ability to sleep on my left side and it hurt to rake the leaves in my yard this fall. If I think about it at any time during the day, I can “feel” that something is not completely right with my left shoulder but if I don’t think about it I don’t notice it unless I am doing some movements at the limits of my range of motion.

The big dividing line for me was getting enough range of motion to do daily activities (e.g. put a shirt on, grab my seat belt, use both arms to put on shoes and socks, etc). It was kind of painful pushing past those barriers but once I got there, I was fine. What pain or discomfort I had (have) is very low grade and not bad at all, but it is there several times every day.

19

Saw the surgeon this morning schedule surgry for tomorrow morning. He said I’d be able to “jog” the Houston marathon but maybe I’ll down grade and jog the half. A 2hr half sounds much more enjoyable

20

My wife broke her collarbone in July, not a conventionnal break. She got surgery 2 plates and 5 screws. She was on her bike/Trainer 5 days after the surgery. After one week she was doing hard intervals.

2 weeks short runs on the treadmill and trail running (soft surface).
3 weeks later she got back in the pool, for a few laps.

She was riding outdoors after 3 weeks (road bike).

It still hurts, she was suppose to get surgery in May to remove the plates and screws but she just can’t support the pain anymore. Surgery schedule next week Dec 16th.

She tried to race IMCoz but pull-out after half the bike. Conditions were very hard (windy) which require to stay aero all the time.

She was able to do long runs in training up to 3h without much pain.

For her the major problem was to get dress (bra), sleeping finding a confortable position. Aero for long period of time is hard (2h+).

Good Luck