Three months and four x-rays after a broken collar bone fracture it appears I’ve got “delayed union” (last x-ray looks pretty much like the first). Doc has prescribed the Exogen 4000 bone growth stimulator. It’s a $3000 touch at the local athletic supply store. I wanna get better but geez that’s steep. I’m seeing ~$400 on eBay for lightly used units. Can anyone offer insights on a similar injury and any experiences with a bone growth stimulator? And can anyone see why I shouldn’t try eBay as an option?
i fancy myself a bit of an expert on collarbones, having fractured mine numerous times (twice on each side). my third fracture (first as an adult…turns out we heal better as kids) took a plate and then a pin to fix it. then i broke it again. my ortho recommended the bone stimulator vs another surgery. it was a pain to wear everyday, everywhere but i was rather motivated to avoid yet another surgery (chicks may dig scars but i’m not sure it works in the reverse). i had it for a few months and generated quite a bit of new bone. while it didn’t fix my issue, as the first failed plate stripped the periosteum off my bone so new bone doesn’t ‘knit’, i would recommend trying it before surgery. i wish i had known about it before surgery number one (at this point i have had a plate and three pins over the years) but my first ortho didn’t mention it (part of why i dumped him). fortunately, my insurance company paid for it. sorry but i can’t offer an opinion on new vs used. best of luck w/ the healing process.
Thanks, fun. No surgery offered here since it’s a “clean” break (ya coulda fooled me looking at the x-ray) with no tenting or big seperation.
Most insurance companies will cover an external bone growth stimulator if your fracture is over 90 days old. Or, you can call them (or your surgeon) and tell them you will be having surgery instead which will cost them even more - they are going to pay either way. Works great.
As for ebay bone stim units - the problem is, the companies (J&J makes the Exogen, DonJoy/Orthologic with the electro ones, etc.) engineer these units to only work for a certain length of time (or people would just pass 'em around I suppose, though they often quote various other reasons). Since you can’t feel the low frequency ultrasound or electro units actually “working”, you really won’t know. Might want to ask the ebayer if they were the original user and how long they used it first.
Best of luck.
Good advice, thank you (s’why I love the 'twitchers). Already investigated my insurance plan: 80% coverage (sounds good til you hear), max $300 lifetime - drop in the bucket in this case.
I completely disagree with the guy about eBay–it’s a good source for these devices! People get these through insurance, barely use them, and dump them on eBay. It’s a sweet deal for a buyer.
I had a nonunion problem and after using one of these from Biomet I got better. However, it’s next to impossible to say if healing was spurred on by a stimulator. But why not use one?!
The Biomet estim is better than Exocet. It’s smaller and works really well.
Yeah anything medical is automatically 10x the price. Buy used. I doubt it can hurt you. It just may not work. 
Anyway, I never broke a collar bone. My old man did in his youth. He was a soccer fan and a pilot. So when he spotted a soccer match he couldn’t resist but to circle over the stadium.
Unfortunately Piper Cub was in the hangar. He was flying a Blanic glider.
There is a hill between the stadium and the airfield.
He lost altitude watching the match and could no longer make it over the hill to the landing strip.
So he landed on the only piece of flat ground in the area.
Players scattered around. Unfortunately 100m is just not enough space to land and stop an aircraft.
Lucky for him there was the goal posts at the other end. So he hit that and broke the glider a little, and his collar bone.
This was not a lil local soccer match. This was teams from two cities playing, and about 5000 people in the bleachers.
Since you’ve been diagnosed with a non-union fracture and you’ve satisfied the time requirement (post actual fracture date), most insurance companies will pony up for the Exogen 4000. I think the MSRP is $4,000 and most insurance co-pays are around 10% so figure about ~$400 out-of-pocket.
It frustrates me to no end that the bone simulators are not approved by insurance immediately after the fracture. Why wait for the non-union news? There is peer-review literature that demonstrates its effectiveness for fresh fracture healing; for example; Low intensity pulsed ultrasound for fracture healing: A review of the clinical evidence and the associated biological mechanism of action.
This is especially true for bones that are notorious for non-unions! I fractured my 5th metatarsal 4-weeks ago and started conducting my own research. My insurance (like most) mandates that a non-union diagnosis is made first before prescribing the bone stimulator (usually 12-weeks post fracture). However, if you have $350-400 and don’t want to wait you can get one off eBay. Two keys here: (1) look at the serial number for the date manufactured and (2) note the number of uses registered on the machine. The units have an internal battery (which cannot be changed) and is only good for about 200-250 uses. Check out this good link for more info: http://reviews.ebay.com/Exogen-4000-Bone-Healer-Buying-Guide_W0QQugidZ10000000019355500
I’m not advocating that everyone with a broken bone to run out and get a bone stimulator, for example, I never would have purchased one for my radial head fracture. However, I’m big on being proactive in personal health and think if you are concerned with a non-union scenario then there could be other avenues to speed up the healing process.
I also found this runners blog interesting on her story: http://wellimtryingtorun.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-little-bone-stim.html