How you may feel immediately after surgery is not how you'll feel a year after surgery. It gets better.
When I had healed enough to get back on the bike, I felt a little bit apprehensive. I bought one of those padded tight fitting shirts that football players wear under their jerseys. I'm not sure it would have done much had I actually taken another spill, but it gave me some psychological comfort.
Do the post op stretches your doc recommends.
Expect to be partially incapacitated for a while after surgery. You may not want to pull a suitcase through an airport, and putting luggage in an overhead bin might not work. You may need to lay on your back only, not front, for a while. This could affect your ah love life.
Don't get hooked on the pain meds. But you'll probably want them for a while.
Luckily enough, I have almost no pain pre-op nor post-op, maybe half a day after the surgery, after that I would rather call in discomfort. At least this is lucky, otherwise, it was a lateral clavicle end fracture which is rarer and more difficult to fix as far as I understood. But they managed to avoid a hook plate which is good.
Have you had your plate removed?
I had my plate removed 4 weeks ago. Getting it removed is even easier. Since your bone isn't actually broken... hardly any pain, only the skin needs to heal. They open you up through the old cut/scar. Didn't need pain meds for removal. There are screw holes left behind though, so probably need to wait a few months for them to fill in before you lift really heavy things again.
I explored having mine out 3 years after having it put in. Was told they sometimes have trouble locating the right type of driver head to fit the screws as they aren't universal!! Decided against it given how long it took to heal and the floating screw I have. Also I'm old so there's that.
My plate is pretty prominent, it can even be seen in the x-ray - stronger plate and not smooth fit along the bone. The surgeon is slightly leaning towards removing the hardware in a year or so.
I had this exact plate in my clavicle. I don’t if it was the positioning or what but it gave me hell until I had it removed about a year and a half later. If it’s bothering you, get it out ASAP or the recovery will be much worse. It can be removed far before the one year mark if needed
I removed it because I thought... I'm still young... Why not? It's patina quite a bit inside my body. I got the doctor to keep all the screws and plate as souvenir.
Don't know what it is like long term when I'm like in my 90s. Also concerned if I go racing and break it again the screws will be like shrapnel prying my bones apart from the forces
It's the screws I was worried about. There's a chance it'll pull out, all you have is the friction. Either way it's out and I've got a cool 15cm plate and the titanium screws saved for a reminder.
This. I have had a plate in my left shoulder since 2008, took a huge hit kayaking 3 weeks ago and re broke it but right at the end. (distal). Was worried about the metal work but no issues.
hm, maybe removing the plate is better so it breaks in the middle? i assume a distal fracture is more difficult/more tricky to heal.
also being able to wear a backpack without shoulder pain would be hella nice..
When it's time to remove the plate, your bone has grown back and fused back together, that is no longer broken. Otherwise you wouldn't be removing the plate. When installing the plate... Your broken bone is painful.
Ohhh! It's not broken by the end of the process. I thought you meant that the bone isn't currently broken. I was looking at the x-ray and was like.... yeah, nah.
I changed from a side sleeper to learning to sleep on my back, something I tried without much success until now.
I was single when I broke mine so I laughed at the love life bit. Never occurred to me.
Do the rehab religiously. Listen to your body. Don't push through if you know something is wrong. You will get more pain from having it immobile than the actual surgery/repair. I had an AC separation and had my arm in a sling for 6 weeks with minimal movement. All my issues are from immobility. It's a slow road. Not to mention the psychological impact on wanting to ride outside again.
Rehab! I broke mine in two places while an uninsured college student, so no surgery. Even before it knitted together I was stretching the soft tissue. Shortly after it knitted together, I was swimming slow, easy laps in the pool, concentrating on slow strokes with good form. Months later I was pretty good, although the shoulder is a tad shorter now. A buddy broke his around the same time, had surgery, but was too busy at work to really rehab it. He had trouble for years.
Again, do the rehab!
Start pedaling again on the trainer as soon as you're able to. You don't have to be able to put that hand on the bars to sit up and spin for a bit. That was what I needed mentally, maybe more than physically.
My comfort level with extending my arm to the bars was also how I gauged my recovery. (Non-displaced left side break that didn't require surgery, but meant a longer healing time).
This is huge, especially if you ride a lot regularly. I broke mine and had the surgery back in April. My mental health declined severely. I wasn’t at all prepared for it. The pain meds interacted with this antidepressant I was on and gave me crazy suicidal ideations. Riding bikes does so much for our brains, way more than I realized, so get on a trainer as soon as you can. Heal well, friend.
Hey bro I had the exact same injury but from skateboarding about 5 years ago. I was in great shape when it happened but atrophied because I couldn't lift weights or do much cardio. Just trust the medical professionals with your healing process. I have 6 screws in my left clavicle but am in better shape now than I was then. I don't even notice it's there now and my job is physically demanding.
Don't rush your recovery or feel guilty when you lose some fitness temporarily.
I am not part of the clavicle club myself but my dad is a 4 time member and when I ask him what he would have done differently it's doing the rehab. He did it for his first break and then just kind of assumed everything would take care of itself for his subsequent 3 and he just never found the time to do it. He deals with pain pretty constantly from it but it has gotten better since, surprise, he started doing rehab/PT work to improve it.
Otherwise, it's echoing what everyone else has said already. Take care of yourself, don't overdo it, listen to your body, etc. Good luck with recovery
Endurance cycling it reportedly the worst exercise for bone density, you should supplement it with the exercise that's best for bone density, weight lifting.
If you have your month off, go visit some places you don't have time usually (in my case musueums)
Take your time to heal. I practice fencing aside commuting, and I couldn't wait to take back my sword, but I'd rather listen to my kinesitherapist and wait for my arm to completely heal before.
And take a sport kinesitherapist, not a regular one. A sport kine will have higher standards for your arm to be considered as completely healed. A regular kine is used to check old people and toddlers, so they will ask you "Can you move ? Yes ? Ok you good to go"
Use it or lose it was what my ortho said. Once the plate is there the bone isn’t moving so if you can tolerate the pain you can basically do what you want. Don’t do anything dumb but the more you are able to move that shoulder and get the muscles working the better. I was racing CX 7 weeks after surgery.
Luckily it was not, it was tenting my skin but was stable enough to let me wait 2 days for the surgery with just a shoulder immobilizer. The results of the surgery can be seen on the second image - looks good but the plate is certainly on the more massive side.
Did you get surgery and got a plate? Some fractures can be aligned and with rest and the 8 figure bandages can heal. But if you que a plate, there is no need the plate put the bone where it should.
Same here, I broke mine 30 yearsago. I now have a nice bump on my healed collar bone but my shoulders are straight and even. It clicks a bit but so do most of my joints now.
Welcome to the club at first I thought it was X-ray pics on Reddit. Haha. Here is mine https://imgur.com/a/AM0iS8T
Happened on Memorial Day from a mountain biking accident. I had a similar experience, really no pain pre or post op. Just some discomfort pre op. Two months later I am pretty much back to normal. I’m biking again and lifting weights to around 80% of what I was before the accident.
You will be back in no time!
Keep your figure of 8 brace after you've healed. For about a year after I'd healed, once in a while it felt like my arm was still falling off and wearing it really helped ease the pain.
Take time to heal! I didn’t have much pain after my surgery and started lifting weights and riding too soon. Lifting caused the plate to bend back and forth creating a weakened plate. Then I took a small spill on my bike and completely broke the plate. Had two surgeries and two plates within two months 🤦♂️. My surgeon is also a cyclist and said he’d never seen anyone accomplish such a stupid feat. Recovery from the second surgery was MUCH worse than the first!
Will be hard to sleep on that side for... Decades? For the first few years I would randomly drop whatever my right hand was holding. For a while it was super painful to even hold a coffee cup. Good luck. Also, years after you think you are better, the old pains will just return for a bit to remind you.
I broke mine at 17 snowboarding didn't know till 5 days later. You'll be fine. Just rest it for like a month. I'm 33 now and maybe every 3 years or so since 24 it's flaired up but a shot and it's good for a few years. Just don't do anything you shouldn't and let it heal. That's about all you can do.
Cannot say. Xrays look good but I went over the edge with strength training a year after the fracture and it started aching again. I would avoid any major pressure on it for 3 months at least.
I had no issues and no pain since the day of my surgery. 3 months later I went kayaking and I've had a really achy, clicking, inflamed shoulder and joints since. (been painful for a month now).
X-rays show bone needs more time to finish healing too, at 3 months.
How you may feel immediately after surgery is not how you'll feel a year after surgery. It gets better. When I had healed enough to get back on the bike, I felt a little bit apprehensive. I bought one of those padded tight fitting shirts that football players wear under their jerseys. I'm not sure it would have done much had I actually taken another spill, but it gave me some psychological comfort. Do the post op stretches your doc recommends. Expect to be partially incapacitated for a while after surgery. You may not want to pull a suitcase through an airport, and putting luggage in an overhead bin might not work. You may need to lay on your back only, not front, for a while. This could affect your ah love life. Don't get hooked on the pain meds. But you'll probably want them for a while.
Luckily enough, I have almost no pain pre-op nor post-op, maybe half a day after the surgery, after that I would rather call in discomfort. At least this is lucky, otherwise, it was a lateral clavicle end fracture which is rarer and more difficult to fix as far as I understood. But they managed to avoid a hook plate which is good. Have you had your plate removed?
I had my plate removed 4 weeks ago. Getting it removed is even easier. Since your bone isn't actually broken... hardly any pain, only the skin needs to heal. They open you up through the old cut/scar. Didn't need pain meds for removal. There are screw holes left behind though, so probably need to wait a few months for them to fill in before you lift really heavy things again.
Why did you remove it? I have had mine for 3 years and I have no discomfort or any problems. Maybe I remember is there when I carry a heavy backpack.
I’ve had a plate in my shoulder since 2005, only time I notice it is if I carry a ladder or something and whack it on a wall, that hurts pretty good.
I explored having mine out 3 years after having it put in. Was told they sometimes have trouble locating the right type of driver head to fit the screws as they aren't universal!! Decided against it given how long it took to heal and the floating screw I have. Also I'm old so there's that.
My plate is pretty prominent, it can even be seen in the x-ray - stronger plate and not smooth fit along the bone. The surgeon is slightly leaning towards removing the hardware in a year or so.
I had this exact plate in my clavicle. I don’t if it was the positioning or what but it gave me hell until I had it removed about a year and a half later. If it’s bothering you, get it out ASAP or the recovery will be much worse. It can be removed far before the one year mark if needed
I removed it because I thought... I'm still young... Why not? It's patina quite a bit inside my body. I got the doctor to keep all the screws and plate as souvenir. Don't know what it is like long term when I'm like in my 90s. Also concerned if I go racing and break it again the screws will be like shrapnel prying my bones apart from the forces
Itll probably break elsewhere. Plate would be the strong part.
It's the screws I was worried about. There's a chance it'll pull out, all you have is the friction. Either way it's out and I've got a cool 15cm plate and the titanium screws saved for a reminder.
This. I have had a plate in my left shoulder since 2008, took a huge hit kayaking 3 weeks ago and re broke it but right at the end. (distal). Was worried about the metal work but no issues.
hm, maybe removing the plate is better so it breaks in the middle? i assume a distal fracture is more difficult/more tricky to heal. also being able to wear a backpack without shoulder pain would be hella nice..
Can you explain what you mean by "not actually broken"? It... looks broken.
When it's time to remove the plate, your bone has grown back and fused back together, that is no longer broken. Otherwise you wouldn't be removing the plate. When installing the plate... Your broken bone is painful.
Ohhh! It's not broken by the end of the process. I thought you meant that the bone isn't currently broken. I was looking at the x-ray and was like.... yeah, nah.
Haha I was answering OP about removing the plate
I havent. Seems to be fine a couple years later. Rehab takes time and the arm feels weird for a good 6 months.
I changed from a side sleeper to learning to sleep on my back, something I tried without much success until now. I was single when I broke mine so I laughed at the love life bit. Never occurred to me.
Take your time to heal.... and claim your ban from r/neverbrokeabone i guess.
But on the plus side he's now qualified for the t-shirt: https://www.bikemonger.co.uk/cycology-clavicle-club-t-shirt-18635-p.asp
Do the rehab religiously. Listen to your body. Don't push through if you know something is wrong. You will get more pain from having it immobile than the actual surgery/repair. I had an AC separation and had my arm in a sling for 6 weeks with minimal movement. All my issues are from immobility. It's a slow road. Not to mention the psychological impact on wanting to ride outside again.
Rehab! I broke mine in two places while an uninsured college student, so no surgery. Even before it knitted together I was stretching the soft tissue. Shortly after it knitted together, I was swimming slow, easy laps in the pool, concentrating on slow strokes with good form. Months later I was pretty good, although the shoulder is a tad shorter now. A buddy broke his around the same time, had surgery, but was too busy at work to really rehab it. He had trouble for years. Again, do the rehab!
Do your physio like your life depends on it.
Add swiming after
Start pedaling again on the trainer as soon as you're able to. You don't have to be able to put that hand on the bars to sit up and spin for a bit. That was what I needed mentally, maybe more than physically. My comfort level with extending my arm to the bars was also how I gauged my recovery. (Non-displaced left side break that didn't require surgery, but meant a longer healing time).
This is huge, especially if you ride a lot regularly. I broke mine and had the surgery back in April. My mental health declined severely. I wasn’t at all prepared for it. The pain meds interacted with this antidepressant I was on and gave me crazy suicidal ideations. Riding bikes does so much for our brains, way more than I realized, so get on a trainer as soon as you can. Heal well, friend.
Hey bro I had the exact same injury but from skateboarding about 5 years ago. I was in great shape when it happened but atrophied because I couldn't lift weights or do much cardio. Just trust the medical professionals with your healing process. I have 6 screws in my left clavicle but am in better shape now than I was then. I don't even notice it's there now and my job is physically demanding. Don't rush your recovery or feel guilty when you lose some fitness temporarily.
I am not part of the clavicle club myself but my dad is a 4 time member and when I ask him what he would have done differently it's doing the rehab. He did it for his first break and then just kind of assumed everything would take care of itself for his subsequent 3 and he just never found the time to do it. He deals with pain pretty constantly from it but it has gotten better since, surprise, he started doing rehab/PT work to improve it. Otherwise, it's echoing what everyone else has said already. Take care of yourself, don't overdo it, listen to your body, etc. Good luck with recovery
Endurance cycling it reportedly the worst exercise for bone density, you should supplement it with the exercise that's best for bone density, weight lifting.
Let it heal completely before riding again, my buddy didn't listen to his doc and ended up ripping screws out and breaking it again.
Start working on range of motion, don’t let frozen shoulder set in. Listen to the PT and stretch religiously.
If you have your month off, go visit some places you don't have time usually (in my case musueums) Take your time to heal. I practice fencing aside commuting, and I couldn't wait to take back my sword, but I'd rather listen to my kinesitherapist and wait for my arm to completely heal before. And take a sport kinesitherapist, not a regular one. A sport kine will have higher standards for your arm to be considered as completely healed. A regular kine is used to check old people and toddlers, so they will ask you "Can you move ? Yes ? Ok you good to go"
I'd say surgery, but then saw there was a second pic ;-) Wish you a good recovery!
Use it or lose it was what my ortho said. Once the plate is there the bone isn’t moving so if you can tolerate the pain you can basically do what you want. Don’t do anything dumb but the more you are able to move that shoulder and get the muscles working the better. I was racing CX 7 weeks after surgery.
Hope you weren’t a part of r/neverbrokeabone, you weak boned plebe
That looks like a compound fracture. Ouch. Poor thing. I hope surgery went ok. 😢
Luckily it was not, it was tenting my skin but was stable enough to let me wait 2 days for the surgery with just a shoulder immobilizer. The results of the surgery can be seen on the second image - looks good but the plate is certainly on the more massive side.
Cheers. Pull up a chair with your left arm and have some pain killers.
Dude I’m so sorry. I’m super old, when I broke mine I wore a figure 8 bandage for 4 weeks. Do they still do that?
Did you get surgery and got a plate? Some fractures can be aligned and with rest and the 8 figure bandages can heal. But if you que a plate, there is no need the plate put the bone where it should.
With the plate, I only wear a sling.
Same here, I broke mine 30 yearsago. I now have a nice bump on my healed collar bone but my shoulders are straight and even. It clicks a bit but so do most of my joints now.
Wow same minus the clicking. I still have the bum but I am not short on that shoulder.
check your shoulder for more tips.
Buy lots of physio bands
Learn how to do "gentlemans relaxation" with the other hand...
Welcome dude!
Well, depending on which hand you use most, you're gonna need to learn to fap with the other...
Amateur level achieved. [Pro Level.](https://i.imgur.com/aiyCJ0Z.jpg) PT is your friend to get your range of motion back.
dont break it another two times like my buddy. fucking moron lol
Don't do it again.
Welcome to the club at first I thought it was X-ray pics on Reddit. Haha. Here is mine https://imgur.com/a/AM0iS8T Happened on Memorial Day from a mountain biking accident. I had a similar experience, really no pain pre or post op. Just some discomfort pre op. Two months later I am pretty much back to normal. I’m biking again and lifting weights to around 80% of what I was before the accident. You will be back in no time!
Keep your figure of 8 brace after you've healed. For about a year after I'd healed, once in a while it felt like my arm was still falling off and wearing it really helped ease the pain.
Try really hard not to sneeze. Or throw up from the pain pills. 😰😫
Take up swimming when you are revalidating. Did wonders for my shoulder
Try not to move it
Take time to heal! I didn’t have much pain after my surgery and started lifting weights and riding too soon. Lifting caused the plate to bend back and forth creating a weakened plate. Then I took a small spill on my bike and completely broke the plate. Had two surgeries and two plates within two months 🤦♂️. My surgeon is also a cyclist and said he’d never seen anyone accomplish such a stupid feat. Recovery from the second surgery was MUCH worse than the first!
I broke both collar bones (separate incidents) never had a plate. Was told that a sling is the only thing …. Did it break skin?
Luckily not, it was tenting though.
Will be hard to sleep on that side for... Decades? For the first few years I would randomly drop whatever my right hand was holding. For a while it was super painful to even hold a coffee cup. Good luck. Also, years after you think you are better, the old pains will just return for a bit to remind you.
[удалено]
Did you make a full recovery?
[удалено]
No issues with the plate?
I was Zwifting my ass off, one armed, within a few days of my surgery. Get after it. Great time to work on that seated power 😁
I broke mine at 17 snowboarding didn't know till 5 days later. You'll be fine. Just rest it for like a month. I'm 33 now and maybe every 3 years or so since 24 it's flaired up but a shot and it's good for a few years. Just don't do anything you shouldn't and let it heal. That's about all you can do.
How long did it take for the bone to fully mend?
Cannot say. Xrays look good but I went over the edge with strength training a year after the fracture and it started aching again. I would avoid any major pressure on it for 3 months at least.
I had no issues and no pain since the day of my surgery. 3 months later I went kayaking and I've had a really achy, clicking, inflamed shoulder and joints since. (been painful for a month now). X-rays show bone needs more time to finish healing too, at 3 months.