Smashed my clavicle on rock hard Wyre forest clay earlier today. Coincidently it was my first time ever using Strava, so I can say with utter confidence a that 32mph OTB is too much for me. Bloody AGONY, I’m very jealous of you people who didn’t get too much pain. I’ve been to A&E, for my standard sling, co-codamol (which are NOT cutting the mustard unfortunately) and fracture clinic appointment on Monday.
I’ve read through the thread that was on here about a month ago, and I’m now filled with dread that I’m going to end up being treated conservatively, which would be okay I suppos for a simple break, but I seem to have an overlapping fracture with at least two floaters that I can see. Advice on how to ‘encourage’ the orthopod that I see on Monday towards early surgery whilst avoiding being an arse and causing digging in of heels would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway; this thread is useless without pitchers;

I can’t imagine they will leave that to heal.
You have done that really well

I can’t imagine they will leave that to heal.
You have done that really well

I hope not. Err, thanks, I think…

Advice on how to ‘encourage’ the orthopod that I see on Monday towards early surgery

They’re the expert, not you. If they decide to give conservative treatment a go ask them why.

They’re the expert, not you. If they decide to give conservative treatment a go ask them why.

Yeah, I get that. But it’s my shoulder and me that has to live with it and use it for the rest of my life either way. I’ll be fairly upset if I don’t get an input into the decision making process.

I think thats a plating job for sure,but you can never be certain.

I just wish it would stop crunching when I move 🙁

I’ll be fairly upset if I don’t get an input into the decision making process.

Do you have the knowledge to make an informed decision?

Do you have the knowledge to make an informed decision?

Not yet, but neither am I daft. That’s kind of the point of a consultation with a specialist.

Plate job there. I still have my plate in. 8 weeks to racing again for me and 4 weeks onto the turbo.

Your original post looks like you’re going to be pushing for surgical intervention regardless of what the expert says.

To me, I’ve seen worse be treated well conservatively and others with less apparent damage treated surgically with no end of problems.

When I did mine – broke into 3 bits – the doctors were offering the option of surgery but not really pushing it. It was only when I asked directly “what would you do?” that they both replied “surgery, definitely”. Straight to pre-op checks, op the next day.

Don’t push for a particular outcome but make sure you ask about the options and pros/cons.

I’ve had an excellent recovery, I was very dedicated with my physio though. It’s still in there 5 years later, no plans to remove.

Others may well have contrasting stories…

Your original post looks like you’re going to be pushing for surgical intervention regardless of what the expert says.

Well, the research I’ve done and understanding that I’ve gained so far mean that I’m leaning in that direction. But I’m not ruling anything out and I’m open to reasoned arguments.

From experience id be wanting that plated.

As for experts; some of the people you talk to will be, some won’t and either may just tell you they only need to operate on 1 in 100 – its a pretty shit experience being that 1 and it not being recognised for a couple of months.

Then agen, if I do do it for a third time I’ll be giving the physio in Ipswich a go…

That’s not going to heal on its own, I’d bet they go for surgery.

In my experience NHS docs and surgeons are great, but they suffer from a lack of time and the need to ‘fix’ problems rather than explore options that might not result in a permanent fix.

If it’s starts going in a direction you’re not happy with, consider a second opinion from a private consultant- it’s not as expensive as you might think – think £100 for a half-hour chat, it changed my life! If you do decide to go down that route go back to hospital and buy a copy of your X-rays on a disc – it cost me £25 to get mine, private X-rays are about £100 a pop and they’ll want more than one, I had a CAT (might have been CT) anyway 15 mins with my arm in the big white tube £500 – worth every penny. My NHS consultant wanted to fuse my elbow because it was a permanent fix – he was so short on time I told him 2-3 times every appointment it was a MOUNTAIN BIKE crash, but he kept saying MOTORBIKE. Anyway private consultant put me on his list and 6 months later my elbow was better, they wanted 18 months healing before they opened it up again.

co-codamol (which are NOT cutting the mustard unfortunately)

go back, ask for something else, up to 10% of the population don’t get pain relief from Codeine

google CYP2D6

Your OP picture reminds me of the x-ray of my spine, which is a very odd thing to see – especially as outwardly I look like a normal, if a little sexy, human.

Anyhow, healing vibes fella and GWS etc.

Ooof! Looks unpleasant!

Plating…? I’d go for mil-spec 8625 type III anodising if I were you…

😀

This is me, a few years back, after an off. Looks awfully similar to yours.

I was told that there was no way[/] they would consider ‘conservative treatment’ for it. It took them two weeks to get me in for the surgery, but they plated it.

*rummages about*

There you go. No breaks, but maybe a bit of perspective, purely to maybe help? Some degree of pain, most days, for the last 20 years 🙂

That said, I’ll take my x-ray over yours right now! Good luck.

You can have some input into your treatment by explaning your lifestyle and work, it may help in their decision.

go back, ask for something else, up to 10% of the population don’t get pain relief from Codeine

Please don’t go back to A&E for pain relief contact your out of hours service.

Please don’t go back to A&E for pain relief contact your out of hours service.

Lol mate, I know. 😉

Accept what they suggest, there’s no sinister motive to avoid surgery if they think to. I went the conservatory route after worrying that it is the lesser of the two fixes, but was back on the bike in no time. It’s not a huge deal either way. Glad I have no metal in me now.

Lol mate, I know.

😀

Please don’t go back to A&E for pain relief contact your out of hours service.

you knew what i meant 🙄

Ermm! No.

I was once in theatre watching surgery and the surgeon was chatting away – the thing that he said which stick with me the most is that you get nothing for nothing in surgery – there are always drawbacks.

Glad I have no metal in me now.

Neither do I – I had it removed. In my case it was defnly the right thing to do, but after 2 months of pain & many second opinions I reckon I suffered unecessarily.

there are always drawbacks.

For sure – not least how **** painful coming round after the op can be! I’ve got nerve damage from it which is a bit uncomfortable and produces some unusual sensations sometimes, but I would have been much worse off without.

Yeeeooooouch!!! Trying to get comfy in bed is NOT amusing :-/

32mph OTB?

v8ninety, where abouts in the Wyre? I did the same at about 30+ mph in the Wyre over Button Oak side. Storming down a bit of single track and clipped a hidden stump just on edge of path. I travelled a massive distance in the air, then landed hard.

I’d love to know local stats on MTB Collar bone breaks in Wyre, I know personally of about 4 people and seen plenty more on here.

Don’t accept anything but a plate, they pissed me around for 6 months saying it would fix, it was in 3 pieces and nearly coming through the skin… It didn’t fix and eventually they admitted defeat and plated it… Its been fine since and causes me no real issues.

I’ve got a plate in my clavicle, which looked a bit like yours initially. For some balance, I wouldn’t say a plate is necessarily a great thing – mine gives me discomfort from time to time. If you need it, then go for it, but take advice from the qualified guy rather than the armchair experts on here.

Anyway, get well soon.

Wow, a lot worse than mine, I consider myself reasonably lucky. I’m in week 7 ish after plate surgery. Broke on Sunday 8th june, in fractures clinic monday 9th, in and out of hospital surgery in a day on the following Friday. I had no pain before, massive discomfort for two days and nights following surgery (13th/14th june), all ok after those two post surgery days (I caught a flight to Spain on the 17th). Apart from those two post surgery days I didn’t need painkillers. All good now, but I got an infection in the scar, so currently on antibiotics. Good luck, the night after surgery is the worst bit, but many people have much much worse to deal with, in the whole scheme of things.

Oh, I was in theatre first thing, which meant numbing wore off by midnight the same day and a very unpleasant night experience. You might get lucky and get thru the first night depending on your place in the queue, but the following night will be bad I expect. At some point post surgery you’ll suffer a bit for a few hours, maybe. I felt it was like having your shoulder in a vice that was a bit too tight or maybe someone stood on your shoulder in football boots, this is with painkillers and it was all bearable, just very unpleasant and constant. It was more torment for a couple of days than painful IME (probably down to the numbing painkillers).

When I broke my shoulder last year, I had excellent treatment and guidance from the University Hospital Birmingham AKA the Queen Elizabeth. I would heartily recommend them in general and Mr Socrates the shoulder socialist in particular.

Hmm did mine 8 weeks ago. Off on a 3.5 hour MTB orienteering event in a few minutes and off to the Alps next weekend. Handled conservatively and looked not dissimilar to yours. It still has not fused as you can see from the 4 day xray (right) and the 6 week Xray (left), but it isn’t really painful (nor was it ever). If YOU want it plated, tell them. I chatted to an ex of mine who is an orthopaedic surgeon and she talked me out of it. I then made another appointment with fracture clinic (just ring the hospital, you don’t need a referral) and had a chat with the consultant and came to the same conclusion. He did, however, tell me that if I insisted then they would plate it for me.

Many thanks for all the comments and good vibes. Got quite a lot of sleep, albeit very broken (seems appropriate!). Poonprice, that’s an almost identical scenario to what happened to me, except I’m not quite sure what actually started the process off, I couldn’t see any roots or stumps, and it all happens very quickly. It was on a nice fast decent that we’d just found, so don’t know it’s name (or if it’s got one). It’s in Symonds Stool Coppice (apparently), which is the southeasternmost part, accessed from long bank down a cheeky shared drive to Beau Castle. I can confirm that the ground is very hard there! Also, I had to get myself up and sorted because the ants were already planning to carry me away…

So, fracture clinic today. had a chat with the consultant who quickly advised treating my break conservatively due to the lower risk of complications. I asked him about the relative risks of malunions and nonunions and he had to admit that they were higher for conservative management. I had a think about it, and asked to have a surgical repair. He wasn’t massively happy but agreed. I’m booked in for tomorrow. Interestingly, I had a much longer chat about the risks and benefits with the surgical SHO who came to clerk me in, and I asked him what he’d have done if it was him. “I’d get it fixed, absolutely no doubt about it” he said. I feel happy with my decision now. I hope I still do in a couple of weeks time.
Thank you to everyone how chimed in on this thread to share their experiences, you all helped me to arrive at my decision.

Excellent! Hope it goes well.

When I broke my collarbone I had it plated – it was nearly coming through the skin. It meant it mended directly in line, which is good. I elected to have the plate taken out a couple of years later and that scar is very well healed.

Surgery has its risks but it means they can intervene and put the bone right back where it should be rather than leaving it to do its thing.

Currently due to go to fracture clinic myself on Thursday after my wrist was plated a couple of weeks ago and if there’s any discomfort or visible sign then I’ll be having that plate taken out eventually too.

Good luck