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Tell me about your broken collarbone experience.

In2h2o

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Dec 25, 2019
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'separated shoulder' is such a misnomer, just saying..... and really any shoulder issue that interferes with sleeping is a bummer
who knew you could separate the same shoulder multiple times?
 

scott43

So much better than a pro
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I've dislocated both shoulders and separated one twice or three times, and the other just once. It makes it tough to sleep sometimes. The dislocation is probably the worst because it feels like it may actually pop out again. Whereas the other stuff just hurts...
 

Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
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I broke my collarbone, non-dislocated, along with 3 ribs during a MTB wreck. The ambulance crew gave me Fentanyl as soon as they could. No surgery, no sling, lots of pain killers, most over the counter. This was the most painful injury I've ever had. It took several weeks before could begin to do things normally. I still have a funky bump in my chest.
Similar story for me.
10 years ago I crashed hard, was in a lot of pain but refused to go to the doctor for 6 days. When I finally went in for x-rays they found 11 fractures in 8 ribs and a broken clavicle. No surgery, just a long long long recovery. I still have pain in one of the fractured ribs that didn't quite heal correctly.

Image.jpg
 

pchewn

Skiing the powder
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Beaverton OR USA
I "pulverized" my shoulder doing some slalom skateboard racing. That's the doctor's exact words. I had surgery to put a plate in. After that it was a year of physical therapy and I still could not shampoo my hair with two hands... the arm just wouldn't go there. So I had the plate removed and some bone shaved. Finally I could raise my arm up!!!

I asked the doctor if I would be able to do the backstroke after the plate was removed. He said "sure". I told him "Great! I never could do the backstroke." :)
Shoulder-plate.jpg
shoulder-xray.jpg
 

LiquidFeet

instructor
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Really my upper back hurts more than the break.

I broke it in the evening and was back at work the next day at 8 am, so i like to keep busy. But days like today i pay the price.
^^This. Several years back I experienced a season-ending crash in March, on St. Patrick's day. I fell and slid into the woods on my back, head first, at speed. I was abruptly stopped by a big boulder which had the decency to target my scapula instead of my head or neck or spine. It sat me up, shattered the scapula in place, and broke the clavicle - non-displaced supposedly. Skis were still on, but no twisted leg issues. No tendons or ligaments were torn, no ribs broken or bruised, thank goodness. No surgery on the clavicle was needed.

I was given a cloth sling to wear. I did not wear it more than part of the first day. It did nothing for the scapula pain, and the clavicle didn't hurt more with it off than with it on.

The scapula hurt a lot. It was difficult to get into and out of bed, into and out of chairs. The clavicle did not hurt much, just a low key discomfort. I kept the body moving by raking my yard. I discovered that raking can be done with very little help from the second arm. Since I kept moving, my muscles did not seize up.

In the end the clavicle healed with a bump at the break, leaving me thinking that it was a bit displaced. The scapula healed but it took longer to stop hurting (the Xrays never showed any cracks in it but the pain told me otherwise). I had no mobility problems at all in the end, regaining full ROM after a month or so - can't remember exactly the timing.

Hope this helps as you figure out what's going on with your situation.
 
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freeskier1961

still aspiring
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I broke mine about 6 years ago, rushing for the last peak chair at Whistler low vis, hit a hole through the handlebars. My understanding of the surgery part somewhat based on the amount of displacement if minimal heals quite well on its own
Mine was significant so surgery with titanium bar re aligning bone ends. Healed w/o incidence, subsequently had bar removed as backpack would rub on it. no surgery with large displacement can lead to healing with a large lump and narrowed shoulder-width Good luck
 

Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
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Similar story for me.
10 years ago I crashed hard, was in a lot of pain but refused to go to the doctor for 6 days. When I finally went in for x-rays they found 11 fractures in 8 ribs and a broken clavicle. No surgery, just a long long long recovery. I still have pain in one of the fractured ribs that didn't quite heal correctly.

View attachment 132327
One thing I want to say about comfort is, try a camp chair like this.
It was the most comfortable I could get.
 

Pdub

best day ever
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Oct 24, 2017
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New England
My son broke his clavicle skiing, while racing slalom. Xray was negative so he continued to train and race nearly every day, but with some pain. The large bump along the medial clavicle seemed to be expanding so we repeated the films 4 weeks later. Lo and behold, it showed a healing fracture. He was told to rest but we figured he healed while skiing so of course he kept skiing. Took about 3 months to fully heal but no further issues since then.
 
Thread Starter
TS
Wilhelmson

Wilhelmson

Making fresh tracks
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Well I wore the sling for 3 weeks and am now cleared for no sling, light exercises and no plates or screws Some part of my body is usually in pain so business as usual for now. Superstar will have to wait until next year but now i have an excuse to make my kids do a lot of hiking.
Suppose its pic time.
20210415_075021.jpg
 

François Pugh

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Well I wore the sling for 3 weeks and am now cleared for no sling, light exercises and no plates or screws Some part of my body is usually in pain so business as usual for now. Superstar will have to wait until next year but now i have an excuse to make my kids do a lot of hiking.
Suppose its pic time.
View attachment 132369
I assume Superstar is your local hill, and by "Superstar will have to wait", do you mean you are using your damaged shoulder as an excuse not to ski?

I wouldn't let a little thing like a broken shoulder keep me from skiing; just ditch the poles and don't fall.
 

François Pugh

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I "pulverized" my shoulder doing some slalom skateboard racing. That's the doctor's exact words. I had surgery to put a plate in. After that it was a year of physical therapy and I still could not shampoo my hair with two hands... the arm just wouldn't go there. So I had the plate removed and some bone shaved. Finally I could raise my arm up!!!

I asked the doctor if I would be able to do the backstroke after the plate was removed. He said "sure". I told him "Great! I never could do the backstroke." :)
View attachment 132330 View attachment 132331
The first time I broke my wrist (scaphoid in two places, capitate 180 degree rotation) I got my doctor with the piano joke, "Great! I always wanted to play the piano."
 

Scruffy

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I broke my clavicle - non-displaced - in two places doing 41mph down a steep hill on a twisty mountain road on my road bike. Hit a 6x6 post holding up several mail boxes. Broke 3 ribs too. My helmet was not only cracked, the skin of it was totally abraded away on one side. Had I not had the helmet on, I would have been scalped. My biking shorts were ripped in shreds and torn half off me, which left me quite exposed as I was commando. My wife was there, and get's a kick out of describing the incident as she mentions how she tried in vain to cover me up with the shreds of cloth that were my biking shorts. I had lost consciousness so I don't remember what happened to make me crash; I had run that stretch of road at that speed before with no incident. I "think" a car came up behind me close by and spooked me, but since I blacked out, I have no memory of it. I woke up in the ambulance apparently saying "WTF happened?" over and over again. My Serotta was found off in the woods near the road crash site no worse for the wear, save for a broken brake hood and lever. I had no surgery; sling for 6 weeks. Except for a collection of road rash scars and a few in bedded pebbles under my skin, I'm A-OK now--oh- except for two broken pinky fingers that healed slightly askew.
 

Tom K.

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Aeons ago, big break, big displacement, before surgery was often recommended. Longest pain incident of my life. And then it was fine, and I never think about it now at all, but there's a big old lump and I'm a little bit asymmetrical in shoulder width.

Dang, it was hard to sleep. Ended up sitting in a love seat, resting the bad wing on the arm of it, and for the only time in my life, the Big Drugs. Sleeping 2 hours a night in 15 minute shifts was sending me down the rabbit hole......
 

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