Anybody had a broken collar bone that wouldn't knit?

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Hopefully all goes well with the recovery Globalti. Sorry that you've had to go through all that hassle, I've been in the same place and can tell you that a collar bone excision is a world of pain that you want to avoid.
 
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Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
Yes it flippin' hurts. I've stopped taking codeine because it constipated me and was giving me a horrible depression for an hour after taking it, I'm not taking ibuprofen because of the suspicion that it inhibits healing so I'm just relying on paracetamol, which is just about adequate. You've got to take it regularly though.
 
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Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
Today's update is that 12 days after plating it's still pretty sore but I think the pain is coming from the two ends of the collar bone which the surgeon will have had to push apart quite hard to get the shoulder back into its correct position. It now looks the same width as the other shoulder and the armpit isn't uncomfortably closed and sweaty.

My biggest concern now is the strength of the plated bone. Every morning as I wake up I get a quite pleasant sort of involuntary muscular spasm that goes through the whole shoulder and produces loud clicks and pops. It worries me that the strength of the spasm could loosen the plate.

I guess that the healing process produces soft gristly material at first, which is quite flexible and so not easily damaged.

Does anybody else have any experience of this slow healing process?
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Crikey, this has been going on a long time. I was back on my bike within 4 months of badly breaking my spine.

I think plates only move if you crash your bike before the bone has healed.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
I’d say you need rather more time to heal. When do you start with a physio to work on movement and strength? Find a physio who works often with your surgeon’s patients when the time comes

Recovery could take months esp if you also have a frozen shoulder
 
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Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
I'm not going to start arranging physio until I've had the first x ray and seen the consultant in a week's time. He is an hour's drive from home so it will need to be a physio closer to me.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
I'm not going to start arranging physio until I've had the first x ray and seen the consultant in a week's time. He is an hour's drive from home so it will need to be a physio closer to me.
Cool. Find one who lists shoulders as a specialty :smile:
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
After I had my shoulder surgery done, I was able to move my shoulder normally within about a month, and to do normal tasks like moving things around. I didn't get back on the bike for two months though as per the consultants advice. I couldn't carry anything heavy for a month or two though either.

Just let it heal and don't try to rush back to normal as it won't work. The biggest problem I had was that the plate was quite strong and I felt like I could do stuff normally, even though the bone hadn't healed.
 

bianchi1

Guru
Location
malverns
Had mine plated 12 months ago and been great. A bit numb around the scar but no bother. I seem to recall getting back riding (carefully) after about 6 weeks. As mentioned above it's tempting to do too much too soon as the plate feels strong even tho the bone isn't completely fixed.

I've got an appointment on Wednesday with my consultant about plate removal. It's not a great plan to fall on the sholder with the metal work still in. Or so I have been told. I'll see what he says.
 
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Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
Had mine plated 12 months ago and been great. A bit numb around the scar but no bother. I seem to recall getting back riding (carefully) after about 6 weeks. As mentioned above it's tempting to do too much too soon as the plate feels strong even tho the bone isn't completely fixed.

I've got an appointment on Wednesday with my consultant about plate removal. It's not a great plan to fall on the sholder with the metal work still in. Or so I have been told. I'll see what he says.

I'm only two weeks in and the pain is slowly diminishing. As far as I can tell most of the pain is coming from the damaged ligaments and muscles around the area, not from the bone itself. My consultant had an interesting metaphor for what happens to the shoulder in a bad crash: put the turkey carcass in a plastic bag and drop it from a height and everything flies around bursting through tissue and causing loads of collateral damage.

What was the sort of timescale you experienced in the healing process, can you remember?
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Had mine plated 12 months ago and been great. A bit numb around the scar but no bother. I seem to recall getting back riding (carefully) after about 6 weeks. As mentioned above it's tempting to do too much too soon as the plate feels strong even tho the bone isn't completely fixed.

I've got an appointment on Wednesday with my consultant about plate removal. It's not a great plan to fall on the sholder with the metal work still in. Or so I have been told. I'll see what he says.
I was told by the consultant that they would remove it if necessary, for example if it was causing me pain or uncomfortable - I was concerned about rucksacks as I use one daily - but that the risks of surgery outweighed the risk of leaving it in. To put things into perspective, last year (edit: actually 2 years) I had another impact on the same shoulder and whilst there was ligament damage there was no damage to the bone or plate.

Now, bear in mind that this is purely anecdotal, but it put my mind at ease around the risk of impacts again.
 

bianchi1

Guru
Location
malverns
I'm only two weeks in and the pain is slowly diminishing. As far as I can tell most of the pain is coming from the damaged ligaments and muscles around the area, not from the bone itself. My consultant had an interesting metaphor for what happens to the shoulder in a bad crash: put the turkey carcass in a plastic bag and drop it from a height and everything flies around bursting through tissue and causing loads of collateral damage.

What was the sort of timescale you experienced in the healing process, can you remember?

It was a very quick recovery after the surgery. Pain free within a couple of weeks. Just a bit stiff from lack of movement but with a bit of exercise that also went away. One year on and I don't notice it at all. I damaged some shoulder ligaments in a ski fall a few years ago and that took over a year to improve.
 
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Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
Well an update for anybody who's interested. Saw the consultant yesterday, that's 18 days after the op. He was very happy with the x ray and told me to stop wearing the sling around the house, in fact he gave me quite a stern bollocking for allowing my arm and hand to stiffen up, warning me that I was in danger of losing the use of my dominant arm altogether. So I borrowed a springy hand exerciser and have been using that and my powerball and doing stretches and after 24 hours the arm feels much much stronger.

He wouldn't be drawn on whether the bone was mending though.

The pain now is coming from the sternum joint and AC joint at each end of the collar bone. My shoulder has regained it's width and my armpit is no longer squashed shut and festering so the collar bone is back to doing its job as a suspension strut.
 
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Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
So six months on from the crash and three months on from the plating and I saw the Sawbones today. He's pleased with the x ray and said "I'd go skiing with that". Next job is to sort the frozen shoulder so I've got an MRI scan on Sunday evening then Sawbones again next Friday.

Gonna take the bike out this weekend to see how it feels. Woohoo!

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