@Haze – I’d say so yes (at least in my experience).  If the A+E doctors don’t think it needs surgery immediately then they’ll refer you to a fracture clinic.

In general on shoulders I’d say beware frozen shoulder. It’s a fine line between immobilizing enough to heal well and too much leaving a frozen shoulder. I’ve broken my right shoulder twice and the first time it was immobilized a bit too long and took 6 months for me to get full range of motion and had to do some fairly unpleasant exercises.

I broken mine (fairly near one end and with butterfly fragments) in 2005. I wasn’t offered surgery and got a not very restrictive sling. No physio offered either. My collarbone has fused with a big step in it, so it’s a bit shorter than it used to be and that shoulder is prone to a log of muscle aches, which I’ve presumed to be because the muscles and the bones now have different opinions about what shape it should be.

I don’t know what would have been a better course of treatment but I’m fairly sure that what I got wasn’t the best outcome possible.

Snapped mine at Antur last August.No op offered.Probably my age 54 🙂

Healng time was pretty good around 3 weeks until i was running and biking.

Full MTB  around 8 weeks and DH about 10 weeks.

Didn’t use a sling for more than 3 days,drank lots of skimmed milk(apparently more calcium in skimmed)

Fusion was around 3 weeks i think.Used a lot of ice packs to aid inflammation.

Hmm… seven weeks in now, not sure how to feel.

Last X-Rays didn’t appear to show much healing, but consultant doctor (seemed the more junior of the two I’ve seen) decided to consult with some other Drs/surgeons, and phoned back to say no surgery necessary. So I pulled my socks up and committed to healing naturally.

All was well until about ten days ago but now I’m getting some quite sudden and painful shooting pains when I move in certain ways, can also feel something a bit loose under the skin and would swear I’ve heard/felt a couple of clicks under the skin almost like it did when it was freshly broken.

Don’t think I’ve overdone anything, still been quite careful of shoulder, at least not using it in a way that causes pain, perhaps driving was a bit too soon, and picking up the baby was perhaps a bad idea.

Certainly not on the bike any time soon, 1st round of the Scottish CX series mid-September already looking tentative… Got another follow up this week but seem to remember from the phone call that the location of the break (close to the shoulder) perhaps precluded surgery.

Are private surgeons likely to have access to better techniques/products than NHS, i.e. are they more likely to be able to deal with an awkward break, or are they all much of a muchness bar waiting times?

Unlikely that a private surgeon will be any better.   Probably the same person in practice

Phone the fracture clinic?

Now 4 weeks since I had mine plated, wasn’t really given a choice. Also had ac joint reduction and cc ligament reconstruction.

Very uncomfortable few days afterwards but finally I’m getting a decent range of movement back. I’m told I can mobilise and remove sling for periods although no lifting (“nothing more than a cup of coffee”}, assume that’s down to giving the ligaments a little more time.

I’ve been in touch with a sports physio for an assessment but they’ve basically said do nothing until after my follow-up in 3 weeks. For now it’s the odd 30 minutes or so on the trainer, just spinning with my good arm taking most of the weight. With the rate of improvement I’m seeing I’m hopeful of getting the nod to start riding outdoors, maybe get to appreciate this nice weather you’ve all been having!

Have never broken a collarbone before so can’t honestly compare to conservative treatment, long term will tell but so far I’m happy with progress and no significant nerve damage.

doubtful private will have better options, however they maybe less likely to recommend the ‘cheap option of do nothing.

mine is like ChrisL up there significant step and went from a 40 chest to 38 in suit jackets…constant battle with neck and shoulder pain and have to stretch and trigger point every day or I’m in lots of pain.

‘re healing cycle.  Mine felt loads better at 8 weeks and I thought I was doing well, but x-ray showed it hadn’t fused.  a lot of the inflammation went down and it started hurting more weeks 9 -11 presumably the swelling had been helping to stabilise the joint.  I also heard clicking presumably the shards of bone getting into position.  it’s a massive solid lump of bone now imagine it’s stronger than before.  just the litigants / muscles an on going issue.

good luck

That’s interesting DT78, almost describes my progress e.g. decent but slow healing then an increase in discomfort and clicking/movement around joint. Can understand the logic as well.

Already got an idea of how tomorrow’s check up will go, X-ray will look identical to previous x-rays, consultant will still act like this is OK, and will start to talk about physio. I would be fine with this but have been chasing them for two weeks to give me a referral note for physio so I can book it on my company healthcare, means I can start quicker, no more half days off work to make the trip to Livingstone, and surely a win for the NHS as I’m not taking up NHS physio time.

Needless to say no referral has been forthcoming yet…

Unlikely that a private surgeon will be any better.   Probably the same person in practice

This.

My experience of letting it heal naturally was OK, except it didn’t heal that cleanly. This wasn’t a problem for 90% of things, until I started training more to apply for the military. Aside from being weaker due to the non-great join, the edge of the break was cutting me internally while swimming; this persuaded me to go for surgery. As the recovery period is very similar it’s what I’d do again.

In general on shoulders I’d say beware frozen shoulder. It’s a fine line between immobilizing enough to heal well and too much leaving a frozen shoulder.

Good advice. I’ve had a frozen shoulder for nearly a year now following a broken collar bone (didn’t have surgery as I’m on warafarin which complicates things)…………….

I think I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum re: immobilisation and frozen shoulders, if anything I’m starting to worry that I’ve not kept it mobile enough and perhaps disrupted the healing…

Pimpmaster, was your surgery a full plating etc. or did they just ‘tidy up’ around the join? All the pain I’m getting seems very specific to the back side of the break, as if there’s just a localised issue rather than across the whole break, in my imagination there’s a wee bit of bone or ligament or something that’s ended up somewhere it’s not supposed to be…

What are the symptoms of a frozen shoulder?

As I expected the consultant at the hospital (3rd consultant in three visits, nothing like a bit of continuity!) was adamant healing was going fine, and he was able to indicate evidence of new bone formation on the X-Ray.

He couldn’t explain the sudden, grabbing shooting pains I was feeling from time to time, just passed them off as ‘something muscular’. Personally I think it’s something to do with a nerve passing over the shoulder, as the pain can end up travelling into my scalp above and behind my ear, don’t think the muscles under my scalp are connected to my shoulder!

Seeing my usual physio tonight, hoping he can do a better job of diagnosing it than the Orthopaedic doctor did…

What are the symptoms of a frozen shoulder?

Shoulder becomes painful and stiff (limited range of movement, struggle with simple things like putting a shirt on) and it can last for years……………

https://patient.info/health/frozen-shoulder-leaflet

Pimpmaster, was your surgery a full plating etc. or did they just ‘tidy up’ around the join?

Rebroken, full titanium plate and eight stainless screws. I’ll see if I can dig out the before and after x-rays. 🙂

I had a frozen shoulder following a rotator cuff tear. Symptoms I had;

1) limited range of movement before it became painful. This was the case even if all my muscles were relaxed and a physio or doc was moving the arm for me.
2) Intense (proper going white in the face and sweating, needing to sit down for ten minutes) pain if I caught my shoulder on a door frame or something.

I was given some exercises to try and sort it out but they really didn’t help even after a month of trying.

Ended up having a procedure under a general aneasthetic – basically they move your arm around under a general anesthetic to ‘pop’ all the capsules made a good popping sound the surgeon said) and then give some cortisoid injections to promote healing.

I had full, pain free, movement back immediately post procedure but needed pyhsio and exercises to get mucle strength in the shoulder back.

I’d recommend going down the procedure route if it’s offered – it really was an instant cure