Broke my collar bone on sat after a spill on the bike – is 6 weeks a realistic time to be back on the bike?

Doc said i can take the sling off after 2 weeks, start running after 4 and be back to normal after 6 weeks?

As this is a common bike injury I excpect a few of you on here have done the same?

Cheers

After 6 weeks I was riding a bike but it was uncomfortable offroad, back to complete normal for me was more like 8 weeks…

I could ride one handed immediately. 4 weeks for two hands taking it very easy, OK by 8 weeks. Do your exercises to build your muscles back up.

don’t want to bring you down too much but 6 might be a bit optimistic. for very smooth stuff i would have been ok at 6 weeks, but i REALLY didn’t want to land on it again, which is a sentiment i’m sure you understand right now. turbo at 5-6 weeks, then gentle off-road at 8 IIRC.
try and keep your pit ventilated.
don’t confine it to the sling all the time ( much easier this if they’ve given you one of the velcro sling things ).
DO THE EXERCISES.
get additional physio if you can – you can usually ring them or ask to see them a few weeks after your initial visit to them. i found that worth it for my mental well-being, for reassurance, as much as anything else.
take a memory stick in and get your xrays. 🙂

otherwise, bad luck. it’s going to hurt like bu66ery every now and then. one particularly vivid memory i have is when i was in the bath, about week 4, i had a pain like someone had just stabbed me with a knitting needle. shaky, sweating, thought i was going to black out, or puke, or both. it was alright though and that was just a one-off.

hope you get better quickly. look on it as an opportunity to surf the web, watch 5hite telly, and catch up on a few films and books.
all the best and keep your chin up. the majority go back together just fine.

My mate went down a staircase completely drunk, broke a collar bone (actually it was his buddy landing on top that did it) and… 6 months later he returned to work – light duties only.
It varies clearly.

If it was a simple fracture with no displacement or movement after 6 weeks you should be able to do light road riding. I wouldnt try riding anything rough for 8 to ten weeks – obviously everyone heals diferntly.

I broke mine feb last year 2″ horizontal / vertical displacement and had to have is pinned and plated, rode on the road for a for mile or so at about 6 weeks – was pretty painful when pulling in the bars.

Did a xcride at 9-10 weeks and had a few niggles.

I think it was 12weeks to the day before i was out on the DH bike back as normal.

Make sure you do the phyio as much as possible and rest it in between. I did and got a lot of movement back sooner than the physio expected.

I did mine in feb and was riding whistler like it never happened in september.

I smashed mine rather convincingly after a nasty mtb crash and it was a good 3 months til I was mtbing again. But even more worrying was it has taken a lot longer to really go fast on the downs again.

I rode in the Lakes inc the Borrowdale Bash and Tour of Skiddaw 7 weeks after breaking mine, fell off too, hurt a bit but was ok. I was lucky but doesn’t mean you won’t be, so good luck!

Thanks for the replies, doc said it’s a straight forward break so no need to pin it. He never mentioned anything about exercises? It’s a velcro sling so I take it out now and again to straighten the arm.

I’ve got a folow up in 2 weeks so I’ll ask them more questions then.

The actual collar bone is not that sore, it’s my lower back as I cracked a rib and bruised the kidney!

Thanks again.

edit: The main thing is the bike was ok 😀

My first one was clean broken into 3 pieces ( no pinning was borderline) but i heal fast was on the road after 2.5 weeks off road riding after 5 but then it took another 3 – 4 months to get rid of any niggling pains…. Take in extra calcium and glucosamine and chrondrotin pills to help it heal.. Everyones different so just listen to your body…
As above your quack should be referring you to physio if he has’nt then ask thats important in the early stage. I have private med insurance but the NHS physio more than sufficed

Good advice there chaps.

simple break, back on the road after 4 weeks
light duties mtb from 6

good 10-12 before i was back properly.

Just to add you need to start the physio sooner rather than later i was there within 7 days for my first session and i’m lucky that although many hospital facilities are perhaps not the best our local NHS physio is definately up to scratch… Physio should start prior to the sling coming off .. Good luck

I have an appointment with my GP on Thursday, I will get him to arrange a physio appointment. Thanks.