Posts
15
Joined
5/27/2013
Location
CA
Edited Date/Time
10/29/2017 10:31pm
I took a bad fall out riding on Thursday and fractured my right clavicle. My doctor recommended surgery with the type of break i have (the bones are overlapping and their not touching with a pretty big gap between). Being scared, i opted not to at the time. I was sent home with option B. a brace in hopes that it would help pull my bones closer so that it can start to heal. He wasn't convinced it would and told me that i would likely be in surgery this Thursday. Over the weekend, after hearing others opinions, i decided to go for the surgery because, 1. i want it to heal faster/better and 2. i will be riding again and think that with plates/screws, it would be more solid and stronger than not.
My question is, is it safer or better to have the plates or am i better off without them? i read that it is dangerous if you fall after with the plates/screws in, is that true?
I'm in alot of pain and on morphine, i just want it to be done with so i can start healing and riding soon.
Thanks!
Natacha
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Nov. 2013
I thought I’d pop in here and give an update to my story. I initially broke my right clavicle last May, its been five months and unfortunately my healing process hasn’t been a very good one.
I had surgery (hurt like hell!) arm brace for two weeks, started physio, had ZERO pain, pushed myself too fast + made the mistake of picking up a little toddler and the screws started loosening a few weeks after surgery. After my doc. appoint I had to wear an arm brace for another six weeks in hopes that it would heal enough so my doctor wouldn’t have to go back in and install another plate. During the six weeks the plate continued to lift and in doing so deformed my bone. When my doc opened me back up in late August he saw that the bone was healed enough and just removed the plate (which was what I wanted at the time). Over the coming weeks the bone continued to protrude my skin, my shoulder was slumped once again and was shortened, It looked worse than when I first broke it. On my next appointment my doctor scheduled me in for surgery again on Oct. 9th, this time he installed a longer plate with 8 screws. It’s now week 3 and everything is looking good. I found it interesting how the first time it hurt like hell but with each surgery it became less and less painful. He told me it would be better to keep the plate in this time because my bone has too many holes in it, it would be left weakened and would likely fracture more easily the next time I fell.
What I’ve come to learn in the long process is that each person heals differently, I pushed myself too quickly and paid for it. This time around, no physio, and I’m still in an arm brace for four more weeks until I see my doctor again.
I’ve learned so much from this, and I’ve come a long way from the girl who was terrified of having surgery last May.
Of course it sucked watching friends and family go out riding this summer while I was stuck behind, even friends that broke their clavicles were back out riding before me but I wish I would have been more patient in the beginning, at least I would have been riding right now. I still have lots of work once I’m healed to get muscle and range back but I’m looking forward to riding next season!
first plate progress:
After they removed the first plate:
What it looked like:
New plate:
My question is, is it safer or better to have the plates or am i better off without them? i read that it is dangerous if you fall after with the plates/screws in, is that true?
I'm in alot of pain and on morphine, i just want it to be done with so i can start healing and riding soon.
Thanks!
Natacha
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nov. 2013
I thought I’d pop in here and give an update to my story. I initially broke my right clavicle last May, its been five months and unfortunately my healing process hasn’t been a very good one.
I had surgery (hurt like hell!) arm brace for two weeks, started physio, had ZERO pain, pushed myself too fast + made the mistake of picking up a little toddler and the screws started loosening a few weeks after surgery. After my doc. appoint I had to wear an arm brace for another six weeks in hopes that it would heal enough so my doctor wouldn’t have to go back in and install another plate. During the six weeks the plate continued to lift and in doing so deformed my bone. When my doc opened me back up in late August he saw that the bone was healed enough and just removed the plate (which was what I wanted at the time). Over the coming weeks the bone continued to protrude my skin, my shoulder was slumped once again and was shortened, It looked worse than when I first broke it. On my next appointment my doctor scheduled me in for surgery again on Oct. 9th, this time he installed a longer plate with 8 screws. It’s now week 3 and everything is looking good. I found it interesting how the first time it hurt like hell but with each surgery it became less and less painful. He told me it would be better to keep the plate in this time because my bone has too many holes in it, it would be left weakened and would likely fracture more easily the next time I fell.
What I’ve come to learn in the long process is that each person heals differently, I pushed myself too quickly and paid for it. This time around, no physio, and I’m still in an arm brace for four more weeks until I see my doctor again.
I’ve learned so much from this, and I’ve come a long way from the girl who was terrified of having surgery last May.
Of course it sucked watching friends and family go out riding this summer while I was stuck behind, even friends that broke their clavicles were back out riding before me but I wish I would have been more patient in the beginning, at least I would have been riding right now. I still have lots of work once I’m healed to get muscle and range back but I’m looking forward to riding next season!
first plate progress:
After they removed the first plate:
What it looked like:
New plate:
Hang in there.
The Shop
A friend also had a plate in his clavicle and had a bad crash and the bone broke where the plate ended, needless to say it was pretty painful for him.
1 decent sized plate & 12 screws later it's perfect. I've soil sampled many times since with no issues.
It's tender if u push on it but that's it.
Get it done right.
Since then I have crashed dirt bikes, mountain bikes, road bikes, and a variety of race cars breaking the left humerus, separating the left shoulder, breaking the left scapula, and picking up several cervical and thoracic spine fractures (some would call me crash-prone)...and had no issues with the plate.
More and more good ortho MDs are going to hardware: sometimes it is good to remove, sometimes it is not (usually due to small areas of bone the screws went into and the desire not to weaken that area by removing it).
My brother broke his a couple years back after a fall so when I went to the hospital I was anticipating a sling for a couple weeks like him. Until the xrays came back and they sent me home with morphine and asked me to return the next morning to see an orthopedic surgeon. It took me a couple hours to absorb the idea of going under, I’ve never had surgery before and am not a huge fan, but as my doctor said, if it heals which he’s pretty convinced its not going to without surgery due to the gap between the break it will leave a bump/malformation, or go with surgery and have a scar. Either way, not very flattering for a girl, but, hey. Right now my shoulder is lower and slumped forward, despite the brace. It’s difficult to pull back because of the pain but I try to. And sleeping is very difficult, lol, I move a lot when I sleep and I always sleep on my stomach, now I’m restricted to sleeping on my back, and it’s painful because my ribs and hip are both bruised on my right side as well.
When I return to the hospital on Wednesday, I’m going to advise him I want the surgery instead, which he said I would be going in for the very next day on Thursday. I’ll try not and think about falling with it in, but I will definitely ask him what he thinks or recommends keeping it in or possibly removing it since I will be riding again, but I feel less afraid after hearing that there are others out there riding with plates. Again thanks for easing my worries by sharing your experiences with me.
Pit Row
My doctor put the plate and screws on the front side of the bone because I planned to continue riding and being active and he said that i can leave it in as long as it doesnt bother me... its still in there because i dont want to deal with the downtime of having it removed and re-healing and i haven't had a single problem yet.
Jason
Plate and 6 screws put in. 3 weeks after surgery I was water skiing. 5 weeks after back racing supermini. Haven't had any problems with it since then. Still have the hardware, doesn't bother me so I don't plan on getting the stuff removed.
Good choice with the surgery! My buddy had same type of break you describe, didn't get it fixed now his shoulder is short, gimpy and hanging down and looks wierd.
Not really looking forward to the pain i'll be in after surgery though........
I work from home, and now i'm pretty much limited to desk work and packaging. My first thought when i fell was seriously, oh shit, i broke something and now i can't work.
But my parents have been doing so much, their really wonderful.
This is what i used to do, when my shoulder was functioning correctly:
Eat Sleep RIDE
Life Behind Bars
The only reason i decided against the surgery in the first place was because of fear. I didn't even weigh the pros or cons. Now after having time to think about it, i want to do it, even if it scares me a little.
I would hate to have a shorter/gimpy shoulder, i think i'd take the scar any day. lol
And it's encouraging to hear that you healed faster, i'm just glad it happened early so i can heal and get back out there while its still summer,
My best friend at the time broke his about 2 months after I healed from the first one in '79, screwing around on a Big Wheel pulled behind my 125 Yamaha. Brought him home to my folks house, he took a shower, and I dug out the brace I still had from my first clav injury. Strapped it on him, about 5-6 weeks later we were back doing more crazy, stupid stuff.
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