broke my collar bone

[ford_racer]

Jesus Christ. When you **** up, you **** up huge.

 

[BreBar21]

Holy shit! You did some damage!

I broke mine mountain biking when I was younger. Went off a jump and my front wheel landed in a ditch. The bike stopped and threw me over the top. No surgery required, but mine was only a greenstick fracture. I do not recall any bruising.

As others mentioned and you certainly now know, it was impossible to sleep. I had to move my bed parallel to the wall and sleep with my back against it. Was such a pain in the ass for those 6-8 weeks.

ps, the most pain I've ever felt was like 2 weeks after the break, someone accidentally bumped my arm upward. I was about in tears from the excruciating pain associated with that movement.

 

[Sirhc7897]

So they will likely want to keep you overnight when they do the surgery (my ortho did anyways). When the nurse walks in and asks you if you want the morphine shot (even though you basically feel fine because the heavy drugs and local from surgery haven't worn off yet)....TAKE IT!!!!!

I remember thinking I was fine and when the local wore off I was begging for morphine. As soon as it kicked in I felt fine again.....Oh and make sure to get a copy of the doctors procedure notes. I don't know if you'll need a cadaver clavicle or not but reading about the procedure was pretty interesting...

You'll always be able to feel/see the tops of the screws through your skin. Pretty odd looking/feeling til you get used to it. My wife refuses to touch thta collarbone. Says it freaks her out...

 

[lobra97]

****!

 

[Coiled03]

Broke mine when I was young, I remember being in some sling that went around me. I did not have to have surgery though. It sucks, I was afraid to move. I had bruising also. I broke mine when someone's foot had caught it when they landed on me. Hope everything goes good, just take it as easy as you can.

This. Broke mine when I was a kid and had to wear some kind of sling for like 6 weeks, if I remember right.

I broke mine skateboarding. I hit a big bump on a sidewalk. Skateboard stayed, I caught air.

 

[Panic661]

real bad!

I have broken my sternum, 2 ribs, my right radius and ulna and my right clavicle. the clavicle hurt way worse than the rest!!!The healing process was not as bad as the ribs and sternum though. The worst part however was learning to wipe my ass with my left hand lol

im left handed. breaks on the left. hard part for me is reaching around to do it lol.

Jesus Christ. When you **** up, you **** up huge.

Hey! thats what the doc said lol.

ps, the most pain I've ever felt was like 2 weeks after the break, someone accidentally bumped my arm upward. I was about in tears from the excruciating pain associated with that movement.

my cat jumped to my chair while i was sleeping last night. the pain i felt from my quick movement about killed me. i moved the bone and was getting an awful pain in the shoulder. luckily..i yawned and it popped back to where it was. feels good now.

So they will likely want to keep you overnight when they do the surgery (my ortho did anyways). When the nurse walks in and asks you if you want the morphine shot (even though you basically feel fine because the heavy drugs and local from surgery haven't worn off yet)....TAKE IT!!!!!

I remember thinking I was fine and when the local wore off I was begging for morphine. As soon as it kicked in I felt fine again.....Oh and make sure to get a copy of the doctors procedure notes. I don't know if you'll need a cadaver clavicle or not but reading about the procedure was pretty interesting...

You'll always be able to feel/see the tops of the screws through your skin. Pretty odd looking/feeling til you get used to it. My wife refuses to touch thta collarbone. Says it freaks her out...

ok, will def do that. from what i was told is i wont have a cadaver itll be stainless peices that match up to the bone, but idk for sure. ty for that though.

thanks everyone for the good wishes.

 

[Mikeyb619]

This is the only bone i've ever broken, **knock on wood** and omfg did it hurt.

I was about 8 and it happened at a soccer tournament. I was standing up for a kid on my team while some fatass was picking on him. I told the kid to stop and he just ran at me and tackled me. At the time he was literally double my size and his weight just snapped my bone. Missed gym class for almost the rest of the year which sucked, but the kid's dad made him write a hand written apology and he got made fun of for much of his remaining school career for being large.

 

[Krs One]

A dog pushed me off a deck with no railing and I broke mine. Fell about 9ft onto a trashcan when I was younger.

 

[soccerman002]

Congratulations sir, you ****ed yourself up real good.

 

[kirks5oh]

clavicle=most common bone broken in body. everyone has broken it, or knows multiple people who have broken it.

indications to fix broken clavicle::

--greater than 2cm of overlap
--open fracture
--fracture of clavicle AND humerus or scapula
--multiple extremity fractures
--compromise of circulation/nerve innervation to arm


you meet none of the criteria. you have a bit of overlap, but i certainly think its less than 2cm. unless you're a competitive overhand thrower, my advice would be to leave it heal---and yes, it will certainly ****ing heal with the bone ends not even touching.

operating on broken clavicles is "en vogue" in orthopedic surgery. you'll be left with an incision and prominent (you can feel it) plate on your shoulder---if you're lucky. if you're unlucky, it will get infected and never heal, or the surgeon will hit something important with the drill. if i had the identical fracture in my shoulder---i'd treat it without surgery. just my $.02

of course it hurts right now---you have two bone ends with muscle attached that move every time you shrug, or move the arm/shoulder. that pain will lessen greatly within the week, and within 2 weeks you should be able to raise your hand over your head to put shirts on easily. within 4-6 weeks nearly all the pain will be gone, and by 10 weeks you could be clear for contact sports, sometimes much sooner depending on how aggressive the doc is.

 

[RX1Cobra]

I broke mine when I was younger playing football... Finished the game with it broken too! I never got it fixed but probably should have. Mine broke a lot closer to my shoulder and I can still move it (15 years later)! I run into problems lifting, I can't sleep on that side or my shoulder hurts in the morning and my t shirts sit just a hair crooked because of it lol.

 

[WireEater]

clavicle=most common bone broken in body. everyone has broken it, or knows multiple people who have broken it.

indications to fix broken clavicle::

--greater than 2cm of overlap
--open fracture
--fracture of clavicle AND humerus or scapula
--multiple extremity fractures
--compromise of circulation/nerve innervation to arm


you meet none of the criteria. you have a bit of overlap, but i certainly think its less than 2cm. unless you're a competitive overhand thrower, my advice would be to leave it heal---and yes, it will certainly ****ing heal with the bone ends not even touching.

operating on broken clavicles is "en vogue" in orthopedic surgery. you'll be left with an incision and prominent (you can feel it) plate on your shoulder---if you're lucky. if you're unlucky, it will get infected and never heal, or the surgeon will hit something important with the drill. if i had the identical fracture in my shoulder---i'd treat it without surgery. just my $.02

of course it hurts right now---you have two bone ends with muscle attached that move every time you shrug, or move the arm/shoulder. that pain will lessen greatly within the week, and within 2 weeks you should be able to raise your hand over your head to put shirts on easily. within 4-6 weeks nearly all the pain will be gone, and by 10 weeks you could be clear for contact sports, sometimes much sooner depending on how aggressive the doc is.

Way to keep it real....just be honest, he has AIDS doesn't he....

 

[mifordman]

I have broken both of mine, my left one back in 03, a pretty nasty fourwheeler accident. I let that one heal on it's own I still have a pretty good lump in that area, my left shoulder is shorter than my right, and it is still sore from time to time.

I broke my right one back in 09, i was riding dirtbike with some work buddies (single track). The front end washed out on me about the top of 3rd gear. I found my way right into the biggest tree within 100 miles. I had to ride myself 35 miles back to camp. That one broke in two spots, i had to have surgery, titanium plate and 7 screws. My right shoulder is still normal length because of the surgery. This side i still have very little feeling around the area they cut me open at and a nasty scar.

I was back up and moving my arm around faster after the surgery, but like others have said the risk of infection is high plus there are some other important bits in that part of the body

 

[Panic661]

clavicle=most common bone broken in body. everyone has broken it, or knows multiple people who have broken it.

indications to fix broken clavicle::

--greater than 2cm of overlap
--open fracture
--fracture of clavicle AND humerus or scapula
--multiple extremity fractures
--compromise of circulation/nerve innervation to arm


you meet none of the criteria. you have a bit of overlap, but i certainly think its less than 2cm. unless you're a competitive overhand thrower, my advice would be to leave it heal---and yes, it will certainly ****ing heal with the bone ends not even touching.

operating on broken clavicles is "en vogue" in orthopedic surgery. you'll be left with an incision and prominent (you can feel it) plate on your shoulder---if you're lucky. if you're unlucky, it will get infected and never heal, or the surgeon will hit something important with the drill. if i had the identical fracture in my shoulder---i'd treat it without surgery. just my $.02

of course it hurts right now---you have two bone ends with muscle attached that move every time you shrug, or move the arm/shoulder. that pain will lessen greatly within the week, and within 2 weeks you should be able to raise your hand over your head to put shirts on easily. within 4-6 weeks nearly all the pain will be gone, and by 10 weeks you could be clear for contact sports, sometimes much sooner depending on how aggressive the doc is.

Thank you for that info. I knew it was going to hurt right now, its a broken bone, I wasnt aware that currently the surgery is "in" or whatever you wanna call it. I wasnt quite sure if it was needed so when i got back into town i went to a second doctor for his opinion, which was the same thing.

currently, ill stick with their recommendations which is to meet a surgeon, and go from there.

with a successful surgery would the healing time decrease?

 

[kirks5oh]

Thank you for that info. I knew it was going to hurt right now, its a broken bone, I wasnt aware that currently the surgery is "in" or whatever you wanna call it. I wasnt quite sure if it was needed so when i got back into town i went to a second doctor for his opinion, which was the same thing.

currently, ill stick with their recommendations which is to meet a surgeon, and go from there.

with a successful surgery would the healing time decrease?

no, healing time will not decrease---and i am an orthopedic surgeon. meet the surgeon and see what he/she says. i don't know how things work where you live, but in my area you show up to the ER with a broken clavicle and get referred directly to the surgeon (me), who then determines whether surgery is necessary or not. if no surgery is necessary, then i still follow the break until it heals.

 

[01cobravortech]

Why is the risk of infection high?

 

[mifordman]

 

[kirks5oh]

^^that's one that i would operate on for sure. more than 2cm shortening, and some comminution (fragmentation of the bones at the break site).

 

[Panic661]

no, healing time will not decrease---and i am an orthopedic surgeon. meet the surgeon and see what he/she says. i don't know how things work where you live, but in my area you show up to the ER with a broken clavicle and get referred directly to the surgeon (me), who then determines whether surgery is necessary or not. if no surgery is necessary, then i still follow the break until it heals.

i showed up to the er, xrays, doctor comes in 'youre gonna need surgery so theyll be contacting you soon"

but talking to you gives me some hope that i wont have it.

 

[ssj4sadie]

ok, will def do that. from what i was told is i wont have a cadaver itll be stainless peices that match up to the bone, but idk for sure. ty for that though.

I would kill for them to rip out the debauchery that is my left collar bone and replace it with a steel/ti piece.

no, healing time will not decrease---and i am an orthopedic surgeon. meet the surgeon and see what he/she says. i don't know how things work where you live, but in my area you show up to the ER with a broken clavicle and get referred directly to the surgeon (me), who then determines whether surgery is necessary or not. if no surgery is necessary, then i still follow the break until it heals.

Yup, UMC in Tucson gave me a referral to the "Best ortho in the city, your collar bone needs it". Had to talk to Air Force docs prior and they said "naw bitch we got this":bash::bash::bash::bash::bash::bash::bash::bash::bash::bash::cuss::cuss::cuss::cuss::cuss::cuss::cuss::cuss::cuss::cuss::cuss:

If you can't tell worst physical thing that has happened in my life and I've broken several other things...