Thursday night i had a moment of speed > skill, ended up unconscious for 5 mins (lost about half an hour) and broken collar bone.

After xrays and a ct scan on my neck (they were worruied i had damaged it too, fortunately not) i was kicked out of a&e dosed up on morphine with just a too-short triangular bandage supporting my shoulder and a box of painkillers. Funnily enough i cant remember anything they told me, but i’ve got a note to attend fracture clinic in 2 weeks.

I’ve stopped taking the painkillers as they were making mw disoriented and i kept falling asleep (i can only assume it was the painkillers, or it may have been from the bang on the head). Anyway, what should i be doing / not doing now? i’ve got a proper sling which is way comfier, but no idea whether moving around / gentle exercise (just walking etc) is likely to help or hinder recovery.

Also, if i can arrange transport, is there anything stopping me working? (desk/computer work). What will happen at the fracture clinic – is this just an ‘ok your mending mr knight now bugger off’?

Sorry so many questions but i am disappointed by the lack of information and the way i was turfed out still groggy.

ps sorry for crap typing too, learning evereything left handed!

You need a couple of days off work as it sounds like you have a bit of concussion. Exercise and so on in within the limits of the pain – ie if it hurts don’t do it.

Fracture clinic will be for x rays to check alignments of the bones and for a consultant orthopaedic chappie to review you.

My opinion is that I far prefer the figure of 8 support for bust collarbones to a sling google for it. I would be asking for one – its what I had when I bust mine many years ago and still used in many other countries.

Healing vibes dude…..
Collar bone thread…

From a few days ago

Those figure of 8 thingys that TJ mentioned. They use them here in France. I still have one if you want it. They work well.

From this….

through this….

back in full training after six weeks.

Go to Dr Brian Simpson in Ipswich and get it lasered. I know people who have been riding again in under 2 weeks after getting the treatment.

Good luck with the healing
borken collar bones are a right git to heal right. Broken same one 6 times, but that was back in the days of rest will fix it. Them figure of eight seem the way to go these dyas.

I broke mine about 18 months ago and was fortunate enough to have it covered by my work medical insurance. I saw a shoulder specialist and he told me that most NHS consultants will rather let it heal naturally first and see it that works, i.e. they are less keen on going straight to surgery. This is natural when cost is an issue.

When you break your collar bone, the two halves of the bone are pushed together usually into an overlap position, by the muscles at either end. The bone then knits into a lump around the overlap and is as strong, if not stronger, than before. You MUST use the correct sling for this (this is absolutely not a traditional full arm sling, but one which only supports your wrist) to work and you MUST keep the arm/shoulder completely immobilized.

The most up to date thinking is that even for relatively straightforward breaks, where there is an overlap of say 10mm – 20mm, then surgery to plate the two halves back together can have significant long term benefits. If you think about it, when the bone heals with an overlap, you get a shortening of the bone’s overall length. This can pull the shoulder forward slightly and in later life you can get back problems as a result of the alterations in posture that this can cause.

I’ve heard of several cases where as a result of leaving the bone to heal naturally in an overlap, the individual then had to have surgery two months later to correct the overlap. This involved re-splitting the bone and then setting it with metal plates. Overall recovery time then was four months.

If you get seen in the NHS by a specialist orthopedic surgeon then they may be more willing to offer elective surgery to start with (well they would wouldn’t they!) but you can also push for this by arguing lifestyle needs, i.e. your cycling. They will take this into account if you ask for it, but they aren’t obliged to provide it.

The surgery is very straightforward with very few side effects, the most likely of which is a numbness around the collar bone itself as the surgery can damage some of the nerves. I have this myself, but it’s slowly got better and while there is some residual tingling and lack of sensation, it’s nothing that I ever really notice.

The most important thing is to give it time to heal, either way. Surgery does not fix the problem; the metal plates simply hold the bone in place while it knits back together. Minimum time I was told was eight weeks, but nine is better. By six weeks I could effectively use the arm again, but it was clear from the x-rays at this time, that while joined back, the bones had not knitted fully so using it this early is very risky.

Hope this helps.

Is there any reason why all broken collar bones aren’t treated with the figure of 8 support?

They probably cost more to the NHS than the piece of crap sling they gave me when I broke mine in 1997. I asked for a figure of 8 support and they said they didn’t use them.

I didn’t know of the laser treatment until a few years ago, but if I ever broke another bone again, I would go straight for that.

enfit – its a matter of opinion – some Drs like the figure of eight some dont. Its nothing to do with cost. It will also to some extent depend on the break. There are few right and wrong answers in medicine just opinions

As for surgery – myself I would avoid it if at all possible as surgery always has adverse effects especially putting metal onto bones. collar and cuff type slings use the weight of the arm to pull the bone ends apart, figure of eight does it by pulling the shoulders back.