Healing broken clavicle - swim drills?

Triathlon Forum
1

I’m healing from a nasty crash & dealing with broken clavicle. Five weeks into it and planning a race in mid - Oct. I’m starting to get concerned about swim fitness. Any ideas about ways to maintain swim fitness/feel while I wait for pain to go away and flexibility/strength to return?

Thanks!

Tom

2

I broke mine a few years ago and required surgery (plate and screws). I did nothing but staionary biking for 12 weeks and PT for the injury. I then had 12 weeks to swim train for IMF and set a PR. If you haven’t done so already, I’d see a good PT. In my experience, swim shape returns very quickly. I used the time to improve my bike–doing hard, shorter workouts on the trainer. The run came back quickly too.

3

I crashed 5 weeks ago and have been doing the same (seperated ac joint and fractured clavical). I took 2 weeks off, and have been on the trainer for 3 weeks. I ran a mile last night for the first time in 5 weeks felt unbelievably fresh. I dont think swimming is comming back anytime soon though. I have about zero swimming history so I can offer no advice as far as drills. But I second the PT, and hit the bike hard.

4

I broke my clavicle twice in the past 10 months. The first time I was easy on it and as a result the rehab was more difficult. The most recent time my doctor said it would heal on its own just don’t fall again. As I result I used it more (biked and ran almost immediately after–although painful) and the rehab was much easier. It all depends where you broke it and to the extent of the injury. I would always refer to PT for questions like this, there is a fine line between using it more to make the rehab easier and also using it too much.

5

Thanks all. My doc sort of said, “Eh…it’ll heal on its own” & PT didn’t occur to me. I’m calling a PT this afternoon. Being injured is not fun…

6

I’ve heard of guys swimming with a snorkel. Once the area heals up a little.
That’s all I know!
Good luck!

7

Broke mine last year (multiple displaced fractures) and had to have plate/screws inserted, and I was back in the pool doing drills two months later. Best one for me was Doug Stern’s “sewing machine” drill, which I can’t do justice in describing properly but is described thoroughly in the archives here if you do a search. I did drills for about a month before I started swimming normally again, and swimming ultimately proved to be the best physical therapy for it.

Hope this helps, good luck!

8

That’s tricky, you just have to make the best of a bad situation.

You can do a lot of core-specific technique work, eg unco drills, fly kick - this is not dependent on your collar bone, and you can do this with 1 or no arms.

What else? 1-arm fly. Kicking. Balance drills. Vertical kicking. 1-arm free (with no rotation you can go pretty quick).

9

1 arm fly? That sounds worse than the break.

I’m a month into my break, when did you all get back on the road bike?

10

I was back on a stationary bike at the gym a few weeks after the surgery (my bike died in the crash) and then on my new bike on the trainer about two months after surgery. Since it was December at that point here in New England, I didn’t venture back outside until spring anyways.

11

I started spin class about 3 weeks in. Just picked my bike up today (6 weeks post crash) and will ride this weekend. Won’t feel comfortable in a pack or at higher speeds for some time as quick movements and strength still limited.

Thanks all for the drill advice - kick drills and one-arm stuff better than nothing…

Tom

12

The confidence comes back slowly but it will come back. Although I have to say; I broke my clavicle on a downhill the first time and on a RR Track the second—I do think about both accidents when I am going downhill and over RR tracks but I think it is a healthy fear that has me being more careful. Good luck and don’t worry-you will be back in the pool in no time!!

13

Thanks for the encouragement - I hear you on the “healthy fear” thing, my crash was pre-dawn on a rode I ride all the time - dark and I “out rode” my light at the bottom of a hill. Never saw the limb down on the rode shoulder. My first memory of the crash was the sound of me and my bike going head over heels at 28mph. I WILL NOT ride fast in the dark again…

14

You can do a lot of core-specific technique work, eg unco drills, fly kick - this is not dependent on your collar bone, and you can do this with 1 or no arms.

What are unco drills?

15

A description of the sewing machine drill resides here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/gforum.cgi?post=782744;search_string=sewing%20machine%20drill;t=search_engine#782744
.

16

I should start out by saying that I’m fortunate in that I am a very fast healer so take this with a grain of salt.

I broke my collar bone about 12 weeks ago. I had surgery/plate screws inserted and I was riding and running 2 weeks out surgery. 2 1/2 weeks out I decided to get back in the pool to do some kicking and 1 arm drills. I was feeling ambitious so I tested it out and was able to swim with only mild discomfort. From there I took it easy and slowly increased my volume. Now I’m at the point where I did a sprint 2 weeks ago and will do a 1/2 IM in two weeks.

In short, my experience was that getting back in the pool was the best thing for me, but I don’t know if this would work for everyone.

Best of luck on the healing process

17

Well, different “philosophies” (ie people who want our money!) call the drill different names.

The drill is to swim, with no arms, but with core rotation. The idea is to initiate the body roll with the kick, and then drive the roll with the core. So in effect, you are swimming as normal, but with no arms. It’s frustrating and tricky and slooow, but it helps. The trick is not to use your arms at all, tempting as it may be. They are just kept by your sides. This is an advanced drill, I’m sure you can do it Tigerchik, but it would be beyond most people.

I only mentioned it as you don’t need your arms. You can progress onto single arm etc drills afterwards.

Fc_celtic_fan - 1-arm fly is pretty easy. I use it to work on getting my core (esp glutes!) to work when I kick, and it’s useful for working on the feel of the glide part of your stroke in cases where you might be missing that.

I got back on the bike 2 days after my accident (a broken forearm), started running 2 and a half weeks after and started swimming again a few days ago, although I have no power in my right arm. Hence the 1-arm fly …

18

I’ll try it the next time I swim (that will probably be pretty soon ;). Thanks for explaining it.

19

I agree with the sewing machine drill–if you can do it without pain. the nice thing is that you can gradually work on extending the arm forward. It is also great for core rotation, high elbow/low hand recovery, body position, etc.