Broken collarbone questions

Ian F

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Hello all...

As some of you saw in The Not BIYF Feb thread, I lost the front wheel on ice this past Sat and landed on my left shoulder hard enough to break my collarbone. After 40+ years of doing stupid stuff on bikes, this is a first for me. It's completely broken and crossing over itself.

I saw the orthopedic dr today. He said it is eligible for surgery repair, but he is not a big fan of surgery repairs, saying it usually ends up requiring multiple surgeries to clean up after it heals.

All of my teammates (mainly in DC) who have had the same injury recommend surgery, saying when it heals on its own, it ends up shorter and is noticeable.

I am looking for additional opinions/experiences for or against surgery. The Dr wants me to let them know by Friday (Feb 14).

Thank you!
 
I did not have mine fixed the last time I broke it and let it heal. I broke it on the same side as my busted shoulder so I wasn't concerned with loss of mobility or any of that like you may be.
 
When it does heal, if it heals shorter, does that put additional stress on the soft tissue of the joint which could be a problem down the road?
 
Yeah read that post and sorry to hear about it. Sounds knarly.

I don’t have personal experience but I do have a riding friend that broke his collar bone (and his wrist) last February. He had surgery to fix it a week after and then about 6-8 weeks ago surgery to do something else like remove plates or something. The wrist injury actually was more of the issue than his collar bone and took a long time to heal.

I don’t know the complexity of his collarbone injury but if I recall correct he was in a similar scenario where he was worried about it healing shorter if he didn’t do surgery. For reference he’s closer to 70 years old.

I can ask him for you if you want and get his feedback I talk/text him regularly.
 
I've broken both collarbones in separate injuries, about a year apart. Separated the AC joints in each injury, too. I was lucky enough to see The Shoulder Guy in NYC (not actually his title, he's just the Ortho that does the most shoulders for athletes) thanks to a connection through my wife. He advised against surgery, I don't think I'm any worse for wear. I'm a veterinarian, I only had to reschedule one spay during my first recovery but otherwise was just advised "if it hurts, don't do it, it'll start feeling better and better as time goes on." Seemed to work out well, I don't regret skipping surgery.

YMMV.
 
Same, I was told not to do surgery. It seems to have healed overlapping, so it's not the prettiest, and doesn't match the other side. No clue if it's shorter... It's also my left and pretty much useless anyway.
 
ekuhn said:
As a guy with 7 screws and a plate holding his collarbone together, I'd get the surgery. That will put you back to OEM spec.

Since my repair, I've taken a Calcium D3 supplement. Do the PT religiously as you'll be surprised how much you atrophy.
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Not a doctor but as someone with a plate and 12 screws, the surgery had me without losing movement in the shoulder which meant my actual recovery was overall better as my joint never stiffened up. It's actually funny because people would ask for two years after I broke it how my shoulder was. It was totally normal while my other side is the messed up shoulder.

I lost feeling in the area of the cut which is super common as they cut a ton of the nerves while doing the surgery but a lot of that has come back for me. The way my surgeon put it, he cut a ton of the nerves because people don't mind. If I had known about this ahead of time I would have told him to GFY and to cut as few nerves as possible. If I had a choice I would have chosen a surgeon that specializes in sports as opposed to the guy I had who probably weighed 400lbs and fixes old people's hips after they break.

Backpacks hurt for awhile with the strap on the collarbone but I've realized recently I haven't had that issue. This could probably happen with a malformed bone that doesn't have a plate.

I have been thinking of seeing a doctor though to talk about the fact that when I do deadlifts with heavier weight the inner portion of the collarbone feels absolutely horrible.
 
Ian F said:
Thanks for the comments. After some consideration... along with the strange shooting pains sporadically going up the side of my neck... I've decided to go for the surgery. Scheduled for Weds.
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Good call do what’s best for you. Good luck Wednesday
 
All I can say right now is I can't wait to get this damn brace off... something about it is putting pressure on my back and holy fvck am I in serious pain just below my left shoulder blade. Not quite kidney stone pain, but damn close. Hurts more than the shoulder/collarbone... really flared up at around 2 or 3 pm Friday. Almost tempted me to break into the leftover Oxy (from kidney stones; which doesn't work BTW), but decided against it. Just the normal combination of ibuprofen and Tylenol the ER Dr prescribed. Feel a bit better today, but damn is it brutal. Sleeping was rough, but managed to get a few hours in.

My mother is coming over later today to help with the brace (I can't easily remove it solo and definitely can't put it back on solo) so I can take a shower. I'm hoping a few minutes of hot water on my back will make it feel better.
 
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