steveh – if I have a next time (hoepfully not) I’ll try them out too, I just couldn’t afford it this time around. I can’t quite get my head around how magnets stitch bones back together quickly but there appears to be enough positive experiences to warrant taking a punt on it.

So, done mine mid-September.
Sling for 3 weeks.
Off work for 8 weeks.
“light” work duties for further 6 weeks.
After 3 months, doc said it’s healing, but too slowly.
More x-rays in Jan.
Still not been on my bike
The most difficult, painful injury i’ve ever had.

The theory is as follows….
Bones are all slightly bent ins some way such that during use they flex/bend. This bending introduces and electrical current in the bone. So by the size of this electric current the body knows how hard you’ve been working your bones and can thus decide how much work they need to keep them healthy. If you are lazy and do nothing currents are very low so very little repair work is done. Conversely lots of exercise means lots of current and more work is done.
By attaching a pair of electro magnets either side of the collar bone a magnetic field is created across the body which in turn creates a large electrical field in the bone. The electrical current produced is much larger than those normally produced which tells the body that something is very wrong and thus huge amounts of repair work is carried out.
There haven’t been a huge amount of studies on this treatment but those there have been show a 4-5 times increase in the amount of cells produced in the damaged area compared to normal.

I fractured my left collarbone on 5th Sept. In a (very good) sling for 7 weeks, off work for 3 and a half weeks. After week 7 the healing had progressed so that the jarring sensation of bone moving had gone away. Consultant was happy with the healing up to that point.

Week 9 I got it assessed by a physio, no ligament damage, no restriction in movement, all good news.

I was back on the road bike and running at the end of the eighth week, have been mountain biking twice though has been due to lack of free weekends and bad weather. Already had my first wipe out on the mountain bike so I’m over that mental hurdle.

So looks like recovery has been a good one, thankfully.

Thought I would udate on mine.

Had it plated / pinned end of September. Was riding again by Christmas (IRC) but like DT78 was riding like a real sissy and paranoid about falling off.

My most recent x-ray shows bone growth which is good and I now have to go back in August for another X-ray and that will hopefully be the final one.

The jury is out as to whether I will have to have the plate out. i was told that this was dependent on how uncofortable I felt with it. At the moment it seems OK.

I still have a level of ‘stiffness’ but appear to have most of the movement. I went to Pysio sessions for about 6 weeks and carried on with the excercizes at home.

All of my work was undertaken on the NHS in Peterborough. I must say that I have been happy with the treatment i have received.

The only thing I still find strange is that I have lost all of the feeling on the skin on my shoulder. However I may be able to develop a good party trick – stubbing out a cigarette on my shoulder without flinching!