Was commuting to work this morning and took a shorcut to miss some nasty road out. Path was booby trapped by some loon with logs/big branches, I'm assuming because of motorbike problems.

Long story short, back wheel didn't clear a log enough, went over bars and snapped collarbone.

Broke the same collarbone last year but it remained in-line. This time it hasn't (see pic). Going to fracture clinic On Monday. Surgery was mentioned as a possibility by the A&E Doc this morning which was a bit grim.

I was just wondering if anyone on here's had a similar break, and if so how did it heal, naturally or otherwise?

Cheers

yup, mine was similar, but the middle section wasnt as long, but it rotated 90 deg and awas all but breaking through the skin…. luckily I broke it again 2 months later and pushed the pointy bit around so didnt need to have the point shaved off…. sore?

Was that xray before the application of any sort of sling?

Mine looked a bit like that last month, but once in a figure of 8 sling a subsequent xray showed the bones much closer together (due to the shoulder being pulled back) and the doc said it would heal fine.

Will have to wait until next week for a follow up xray to confirm this, but it feels like it's getting better at least.

You really need to learn not to stick your hands out when you crash 😕

Mine was similar but overlapping more and consultant said surgery would be best best, this is the before and after

Was riding again in about 5 weeks and downhilling in the Alps in 7 (although probably shouldn't have!).

Looks similar to what I had, 10 weeks before I was allowed off road again. I still have a fairly sizable lump, in fact my own GP said he was less than impressed by the consultant.

Mine was similar to Tonylem's – 'tenting' they call it when it's nearly breaking through the skin. My specialist decided to pin and plate. Which means now it;s all over and I have a sizeable scar, the bone is dead straight and no discomfort when wearing a rucksack, which is good cos I do loads of walking/mountaineering as well as riding…

Be glad you've done it now summer's over 🙂

Yep it is sore tinsy. Hope yours is doing better, sounds like much trauma.

Just in a normal trangular sling at moment. Wasn't told to do anything special, just to see fracture doc on Monday. Hopefully he'll shed some light.

A&E Doc didnt rate surgery, he said there's all sorts around that area so sometimes its best not to interfere – not sure what he meant by that as I thought surgery was relatively common.

Didnt put hands out Dez (on both occasions), just landed heavy on my left shoulder. Maybe this time was a weak point from the first time.

That plate work looks nifty. Was it much of an operation? Alps effort – ace. Me back on any type of bike in < 2 months would be great. Last time it as > 10 weeks.

If it's a year from the last time you broke it, it should probably be stronger than before (due to increased cross-section). In fact, it looks to me like you've broken it slightly closer to the shoulder than last time (thicker area of bone just to the left of the break).

wool… sorry about the break, nightmare for you.

On a plus side I have never had a moments problem from mine despite a fairly irregular shape, so good luck on healing.

I have to say the repaired one looks a really neat job doesnt it.

Think I must have had a good surgeon. The reduction is pretty perfect and the knifework was superb, the scar was internally stitched and is very faint and once all the redness is gone should be barely visible. You can still see the plate slightly under the skin though, but wearing a backpack dosen't cause any problems.

Following a high speed motorbike accident (too fast, own fault, bike in a tree) my sister in law ended up with a collarbone that looked remarkably like the OP's and 5 broken ribs.
The hospital in France did not operate initially, waiting to see whether the bones sorted themselves out. It became apparent after about 4 weeks they were not going to so she went in to hospital in Sheffield for surgery.
She was in, operated on, and home the same day and said that it immediately felt much, much better.
She regained full range of movement in about 3 weeks and was back on her new motorbike after about 6. She has a very neat scar but she says no lumps, sore bits or pain. Quite amazing really.
I think she would recommend the surgery without hesitation.

Leave the depression and you'll never have a ruck sack fall off again.

*has flash back and shudders*

Mine broke similar to the op's last year (only in to 4 rather than 3 just for good measure) and they said it would heal quicker and stronger if pinned so had the opp and 8 weeks off the bike, first ride out and went straight over the bars again 😯

Healing vibes 😉

I broke mine 5 years ago playing American Football, spilt into three with the middle section being at 90 degrees with the rest. A&E left it as it was and it healed with a massive lump where the middle set facing outwards. Now I can move the bone around 5mm upwards & downwards. Nice party trick! No pain anymore altough my shoulder tends to click audibly when swinging my arms around.

Mine started off looking like Tonylem's but after two days of waiting for the fracture clinic it looked a lot like yours woool.

Nhs said no surgery required as i would have:

"a reasonable degree of movement"

Which to me wasn't acceptable and i had to have it done on BUPA

Bout 12 weeks from the day I did it to riding full on DH again.

You really need to learn not to stick your hands out when you crash

conker that

mine was a bit further out to the end of the shoulder. generally the more in the middle it is, the better. if it is out towards the end (a distal fracture) you get more complications with muscles/tendons and more likely damage to your acromium.

If I were you I'd opt for surgery asap, as I can't see those two bits getting back together. the longer you leave it, the less willing they are to start knitting together again. Speaking from experience, it was 5 months before the doc thought it appropriate to operate, which then led to an extremely painful 9 months with a hook plate installed, as it took that long for the bone to completely heal. if done straight away, I'd have been looking at 3 months before the plate could be taken out.

The surgery hurts after, but ain't that bad so I'd just go for it every time with hindsight.

Happy to chat more about collar bones if you like – jamesdotrobertson77atyahoo.co.uk

I'm no doctor but did a fair bit of riding in my year off bikes!

Mines broke in 3 bits!?! I thought that gap on the right of the pic was supposed to be there!

You could be right glenh, now I look at it (and very gently feel it) it could be a bit further up.

The healing vibes are most welcome 🙂

One happy – tht's interesting you went your own way with it. I'll see what they say on Monday, also have some private cover with work. I would hope the NHS advise on what would be best though.

this was mine back in march, 11 weeks later is was healed and ready till next time.
Nice lump there now which makes shouldering thing painful, my right shoulder is also about and inch narrower and lower than the other.

Did this just two weeks ago while doing a TransAlp. 4 days in just into Italy. Boy is it sore. The consultant says to leave it however I am going to see a Prof in Sheffield next week who specialises in shoulder sports injuries as I need to be sure it is 100% or more. Having trouble sleeping at the moment. Fracture is of the Clavicle (collarbone) and Scapular. Thank my sister for the x-rays as she runs the x-ray dept here in the Dales.

Wasn't very easy to sit at home last night, such a perfect evening and see the lights of 8+ bikes racing down Crummockdale then riding up our track to Feizor while I sat longingly in our yard…

Chris

I did mine last spring. It took about 8 weeks before it was fully healed. I didn't have surgery, but I did go & see this guy Physio Clinic & I can't recommend him highly enough. All the top Super Bike riders go to him, so he understands why you do a 'dangerous' sport & that you want to get back to it ASAP. After my session with him I had loads more mobility & I was so much more comfortable, especially when sleeping.
The difference between the treatment I got from this guy & the frankly useless NHS was remarkable.
If you can't get to him, I would recommend getting hold of a shoulder brace, which pulls your shoulders back & lets you heal with a correct posture. It also gives you use of both arms, which obviously makes life easier. If you wear a sling, you'll heal all hunched over.
Get well soon.

Yeah, I can definitely recommend the shoulder brace / figure of 8 sling.

As j-claw says it gives you instant use of both arms and relative comfort straight away (apart from being bloody tight!). Plus it helps to stop overlap of the bone and it healing shortened.

Not quite sure why they don't seem to use them in the UK much (got mine in France). I think it's because they are more expensive and the evidence says that they heal just as readily without (but I suspect often not quite as well, ie. more often shortened/overlapped/weirdly kinked).

Mine had a 2 inch section of little broken bone bits in the middle 🙁

Also I second what Glenh says above, I did mine in Morzine so the Frenchies put me in one of the figure 8 sling things. Bloody uncomfortable at first but you need it to be TIGHT to immobilise you properly.

Apparently they are almost unheard of over here for some reason. Mine healed quickly and nicely aligned though.

Funny that, in Italy they put on a fig 8 sling but when I got to the UK 24 hours later they cut it off, said it was rubbish and that the UK had given up using them years ago so hence I'm sat here like a lemon with one arm immobilised in a sling,

C

I did mine in a very similar way a couple of years ago and all seemed to heal well sans surgery. However, a year later, I had a very minor lie down in the grass and it snapped into 4 with very little provocation.

I had it plated under BUPA. I was road riding within 10 days and started a 4000 mile fully loaded tandem tour under 5 weeks of the op. Personally, I'd definitley push for the plate. It is invasive and a bit scary for someone that has spent zero time under the knife but the results are fantastic. The NHS seem very reluctant to operate unless pushed very hard tho….

Couple of points to watch if you go in; Ask for disolving stitches, saves being pulled about later and sometimes, they need to take a bone graft from you to fill the broken area. I asked for 'donated bone' rather than have a rib or hip bone bashed around by the quack. Speeds recovery as there's less pulling of you around. Apparently taking the hip graft is more painful than the ORIF op….

Good luck whatever you go with…

whats my name

I have 2…

I was just browsing this thread, noticed "James Cook" at the bottom of your xray then went back and actually read it….

I can't believe you've done it again – I can't see how that would go back without surgery.

Get well soon Kris!

Similair to mine except mine was a little bit more displaced and almost through the skin.

Was back in gym after 6 weeks and back on trails in 12 weeks. Could have been out sooner but took doctors advice.

I am now 12 months on and still have big lump from overlap. But its fine now apart from the odd ache if I lie on it funny.

Cheers

Bazzer

Broke mine in 3 last June.
No surgery for me.
Figure of 8 strapping for the first few weeks (done up tight).
Total rest for the first two and a half weeks.
Back on the turbo after 4 weeks.

Back on my bike one day short of six weeks.
Back riding events after two months.

Collarbones normally heal well on their own, even when the bones are quite badly displaced. The critical time is around 10-14 days when a 'fibrous' union forms. After that it's just a case of hardening off.

Healing vibes James

SB

Cheers for the replies people.

Now then Neil. I wouldn't care I thought I'd been riding well this year and have only had a handful of crashes. But like the first time I did it, it was doing something fairly innocuous – I don't feel any malice against the **** that laid the branches, yet… Although this happend on Wilton Lane, it could easily happen to any of us along Silverton or other 'mined' trail and it needs sorting out.

Agreed, I can't see it mending without some intervention but I'll see what they say on Monday. Personally I hope they tell me it's surgey and just get on with it.

boblo – that sounds like bad luck. At the moment I'm leaning towards surgery for that very reason. If an x-ray showed the bits nearly together then fair enougb (last year with me everything was in-line so it made sense to leave well alone). This time though the jagged bits are about an inch away from each other. I'd heard about the possibility of bone grafts with surgery but didn't know it could be donated… If the NHS say leave it I'm going to dig out my private works cover and go for a second opinion. With any luck I might get a bit of collarbone material from Ben Grimm!

James – that figure of 8 strapping makes sense to me. I can just imagine how nice the support must feel in that area. However, it seems the NHS don't place a lot of faith in them here in the UK, but I'm going to ask on Monday anyway.

Oh, and 2 broken collar bones – I just cannot imagine… GWS!

Yep they tend not to advertise the donated bone option as it costs £££'s. Much cheaper for our beleaguered NHS to dig around in the patient whilst he/she is under….

Even if you go private, you'll need to insist as you will for the disolving stitches. In the end, there's a good case as it speeds up recovery and/or makes for a better 'patient experience' (uuugh) if there's less trauma to recover from.

Good luck.

Here is my wife's collarbone, she bust it in April going over the Lemming Drop at Glentress. Just getting back to biking now, it's been a while!

Hi Busted my collar bone 6weeks ago http://www.muddymoles.org.uk/2009/08/ride_0208_2009.html Before anyone says I didn't get a chance to put my hand out! Endo'd off a drop out at a decent speed. I busted it at the distal (shoulder) end in 3/4 peices and bust a couple of ligaments for good measure http://domtbforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=3210&page=1#26645

A week or so later I got a plate put in (not screwed up tight but a new sort that sort of pulls everything together). It's now just over 4 weeks since the surgery and after 1 week using the sling I'm feeling much better. Using the arm generally well with quite a lot of movement and considering getting out for a gentle ride this week. Strangely given how painful many people collar bone breaks are meant to be mine didn't hurt to much – except after the surgery 🙂

Surgery did well for me. It seems to have made the recovery process remarkably short.

Not sure why they don't use ApaTech synthetic bones grafts for collar bones – probably cost.

One thing reading this thread is how different a simple break can be!