Bust my collar bone on 18 August, so a month and three days ago. The bone glued itself together within three or four days but the pain from the bruised ribs and collateral damage to the shoulder is only beginning to fade now. I still can’t lie on my back because of the way the ribcage flexes. The physio says you can’t consider the bone repaired until 6-8 weeks after the break so driving and cycling are out.

So how long was it before you felt safe enough and pain-free enough to get back on the bike? Off road would obviously be different from road. I’ve lost 1.5 kgs in weight, presumably muscle bulk from glutes and quads and am keen to get active again and limit further deterioration. Don’t really want to get a turbo because I’ve owned two and Ebayed them both because they bored me so much. So cheer me up please!

My sympathies, i broke mine last year

I was back on the turbo after around 4-5 weeks (can you borrow one?)

Roadie was about 8 weeks, could feel potholes and rough tarmac through the shoulder for a few months after that. That sucked balls as the roads round huddersfield are awful

I took a few months off the MTB in the end, I just didn’t want to risk it. Don’t forget your muscles will degrade in your shoulder so rebuild them carefully.

Ultimately my shoulder feels as strong as before, but i didn’t rush anything so i could get back to that

Thanks, so it will be the endurance bike with 90 psi in the front tyre and I’ll store the hooligan bike in the spare bedroom until next spring, where it would be going soon anyway as it only goes out on dry salt-free roads.

You may be able to get back out on the road earlier than i did, i was happy using the turbo for a while. Just be patient

Anyway someone will be along in a moment to say they were hucking road gaps to flat on a rigid hardtail three days after snapping theirs

56 days beforepootling around, 65 days on rough stuff.

Bashed my rotator cuff  recently, that seems to actually have caused me more pain and hardship.

I did mine about 3 months ago. It took me about 6/7 weeks to get back on the road bike but even then I had to keep rides short (no more than 45 mins to an hour) as my shoulder would get progressively more uncomfortable over the course of the ride.

I got back on the mtb a few weeks after that doing the odd cross country ride (Yorkshire dales type stuff, nothing too gnarly). To be fair I found it more comfortable riding the mtb than the road bike to begin with due to the suspension and flat handlebars.

From that point onwards I just kept adding more miles to each ride. My shoulder still doesn’t feel 100% so I’ve not bothered with anything where there is a good chance I’ll fall off just yet.

Was about 6 or 7 weeks for me after having it screwed back together. With the 2 weeks before that waiting for a op my ribs and other bruses etc were all ok

10 days for me. Was a relatively minor break and they didn’t operate. Although to be fair I stuck to easy trails and canal towpaths for a couple of weeks as I was afraid of being knocked off or of falling on more technical terrain.

2 weeks. Collar bone, top 3 ribs, shoulder separation & shoulder fracture. It was a total pootlefest though, essentially bridleways for probably another 6 weeks.

Mine was complicated (SC dislocation) so i’ve struggled with it for over 12 months. I’ve started back in the gym now as it’s really messed with my head when racing (gravity stuff) because of a lack of stability & strength, compared to the other side it’s very weak, but improving now.

Hoping to be good for next season really 🙂

Hmm…I’m halfway through a 6 month sentence, includes a grade 4 AC joint though.

I’m told it may not have been so long had I broke it somewhere towards the middle, but I snapped the end off so the fixings haven’t got much bone screw into leaving a high chance of non-union.

Also got one of those suture arrangements to keep everything in place.

Hopefully you’ll be nowhere near as long and haven’t spent half of the best summer in years on the turbo.

Hope that cheers you up! 😀

I went to physioclinic.net for laser and magnet treatment a week after my last big one, bone in 4 pieces. Road bike 2.5 weeks, mtb gentle 4 weeks, a week road tripping around scotland 5 weeks.

I did a week in Morzine at 6 weeks after breaking my first one with no complications.  The 2nd one was about 3 months before riding off road again. Hopefully yours is more like my first.

3 years ago when 48 years old. Broke in 2 places. Back on the turbo after 3 weeks. Gentle rides out after 4, did a MTB orienteering race for 3.5 hours after 8 weeks and then a week of proper big mountain riding in the Alps after 9 weeks. The more you can push yourself to do your own physio, the quicker it will heal.

@ HAZE

6 months in from what you have suffered. I could have ridden earlier, going by feel at about 3-4 months but was told by surgeon if i didn’t wait and came off again I was fecked.

Rode off road for the first time last week. Shoulder was 80% there confidence was shot though. Small drops where you can roll them were the worst. That really made the lost strength noticeable.

gentle pootle after 18 days

commuting after 21 days

rough stuff after 31

Three months for me. But now it would be a couple of weeks because I have the trike. Bought this after my second accident where I couldn’t use my wrist or shoulder for about the same.

3 months but was on the turbo after 4 weeks (but not using the affected arm to begin with).

Should have been operated on but all my follow ups were with **** registrars all of whom were too frightened to refer me for surgery despite zero evidence of bone regrowth. Even now it hasn’t fused but the consultant I eventually saw after 14 weeks said if it wasn’t causing me pain then have at it!

Physio was less impressed, stating that no pain does not equal a strong collarbone, next time I crash it could be snapsville again. No amount of physio will strengthen the joint, but it will help with regaining range of motion.

The NHS takes a rather laissez-faire attitude to collar bone fractures knowing that most will heal alone. I couldn’t see how those two broken ends would find each other and join up but the consultant assured me that they would and after about 3 or 4 days I couldn’t feel the ends grating against each other any more. Next time I saw him he said “Told you so!”

I asked him about getting it plated and he explained that it’s better to avoid a plate if possible because it will be a permanent irritant if you drive, carry skis or a rucsac.  Also, interestingly, he said that BUPA hosptials are well set up for elective stuff like knees and hips but not collar bones and if anything does go wrong you’re better off in an NHS hosptial where there are loads of other specialists on hand.

6 months in from what you have suffered. I could have ridden earlier, going by feel at about 3-4 months but was told by surgeon if i didn’t wait and came off again I was fecked.

Rode off road for the first time last week. Shoulder was 80% there confidence was shot though. Small drops where you can roll them were the worst. That really made the lost strength noticeable.

Sounds very similar, I feel like I could probably ride a bit of road but with us going on holiday tomorrow my other half has forbidden it!

She’s far more sensible than me, though I know it’d be wrong for me to risk her holiday for what would probably amount to a 30 minute tootle with a painful shoulder.

Better off waiting but yeah I’m fully expecting to notice something similar.

I got back on mine at 6 weeks (plated), but couldn’t loft the front wheel for quite a while without pain.