To get collar bone plated or not?

[beardi]

I have no direct experience with a collar bone but I've had the plate and screw surgery to my arm (broken 3 times) and I would definitely go that way again. I was back riding my bike after 4 weeks and playing football after 10. There's no way any of that would be possible by letting it heal naturally. The post-surgery pain was significant I must say but well worth the trouble to be back to normal so quickly.
Best of luck with it all.

 

[No Skid Marks]

I have no direct experience with a collar bone but I've had the plate and screw surgery to my arm (broken 3 times) and I would definitely go that way again. I was back riding my bike after 4 weeks and playing football after 10. There's no way any of that would be possible by letting it heal naturally. The post-surgery pain was significant I must say but well worth the trouble to be back to normal so quickly.
Best of luck with it all.

I've broken that arm 4 times(Humerous 3 wrist 1) and had it plated the last time, LOL.

 

[Ivan]

Fuck's sake you are being SHAFTED.
I saw an Orthopaedic Specialist and it cost maybe $80 for a consult.
You need to see someone else. Maybe call a Physio for advice? I was put onto the surgeon by a Sports Physio.

Shafted? depends on the quality of person your seeing I guess as to the value of their advice. I have seen plenty of "free" orthopaedic surgeons at the fracture clinics over the years and their consults have ranged from pathetic to passable. When I finally stumped up the $200 to see the best Ortho in town I actually got some good advice, which was definitely worth the cash.

I wouldnt trust a physio to know what they're talking about.

 

[c3024446]

I snapped my CBone in the middle last May and had it plated. The bones were overlapping so my shoulder was shorted, and that's why it needed the plate. Was good as new in a about 5 weeks.

However, 10 days ago i re-broke it on the end near the shoulder, and it is looking like they will not need to rip the old plate and and put a new one in (thank god!).

I will never know if the plate has somehow strengthened part of the cbone and made it more likely to break the other parts of the cbone which are not reinforced. It your bones are still inline, no surgery should be the way to go.

 

[Mywifesirrational]

Any updates on how the surgery went, how your feeling? How 'high' you might be feeling

 

[No Skid Marks]

Any updates on how the surgery went, how your feeling? How 'high' you might be feeling

Yeah it's heaps better. I figured it was like trying to weld up a seat stay and chain stay at the same time, virtually impossible to get a good result. But with one of the arms in place, the other should naturally fall in place too. Sleeping's the worst, I think I get maybe 20minutes then wake up i pain.
Although the surgery is brutal(I'll have a huge scar etc)I can already feel the shoulder blade doesn't feel like it's tearing apart anymore. This was happening every time I moved before. I get X Rays on thursday, so fingers crossed collar bone's lined up right.

 

[Toxic]

Sorry to drag this thread out of the grave, but I'm trying to make the decision on what to do with MY recently broken collar bone. I hit a lump of concrete on the commuter at 5am between Woodford and Linden on the highway (Yes I must have been off with the pixies). Hit the road with my shoulder and snap. Nepean emergency put me in a sling with a lot of pain killers. After 10 days I had a follow up with the Fracture clinic with the X-ray below (taken yesterday). Both doctors are recommending I leave it alone even though it looks shortened, is overlapped and the bone is visably, noticably poking up the skin. I getting another X-ray taken next Wednesday and talking to the same doctors again along with a third shoulder specialist.

I'm am hearing so much conflicting info and realise that every situation is different. But I'd like to hear from anyone who has had something like this and left it alone to heal. The family is looking to do multiday walks and off road cycle touring as the kids get older and I'm worried that having the bone sticking up will affect me when a backpack with 30kg of gear is on my back.

Any insights or opinions would be appreciated.

 

[No Skid Marks]

Plated
Pros
Normal length.
Can use back packs.
Stronger.
Less ongoing discomfort.
Quicker healing.
That bit of floating bone removed or put in place.

Cons
Will cost you upward of $1500 to get plate put in.
Same if removed at a later date.
Still local discomfort.
Loss of sensation around area(possibly come back).
Possibly higher risk of re-breaking at either end of plate.
Another 3 months off if you decide to get plate removed.
Risk they or you will still stuff it up.

Non plated
Pros
No surgery and it's associated risks.
No need to get plate removed, and or have a mess if you re-broke it with plate and screws in.

Cons
Short shoulder.
Mega pain for backpack usage.
Looks like it'll resnap hella easy.
Ugly bump.
Sensitive bump.

That's fricken ugly dude, I'd get it plated ASAP myself.
I'll PM you the doc who did a great job on mine if you can get to canberra for day surgery.

Back n the day, apparently they would strap and brace collar bones so they set straighter. Not sure why this concept died out, but you could look into something along those lines.

Update on mine.
Did my first day digging on a track yesterday. Few suspicious pains strains and creaks, but otherwise fine. Plate is sensitive with stuff running over it(skin, tendons, whatever's in there)but seems to be getting better. Sensitive if pushed on or bumped.
Numb to touch but you don't notice it or the weird feeling when getting in the shower etc.
Glad I got it done. Been riding All MTN type stuff for about a month now(op was April 12th). Been skiing for about 6 days.
Not crashed on it yet, and still very scared as I don't think I'm meant to be doing anything extreme for another week or so.
All in all, glad I got it plated. Shoulder blade seemed to heal really fast. I'm pretty sure I'd be way bent and still healing if I'd not got the operation.

 

[Toxic]

The way the docs have been talking, the decision on the operation is pretty much mine. Cost isn't the issue it seems as Medicare would be covering it as I'm doing everything through the hospital. In spite of the X-ray, they reckon it will heal OK. But plenty of others (some with medical training) are looking at it and asking "why hasn't that been plated yet?". Thus the mixed messages push me to seek more opinions. My science brain keeps looking at the X-ray and saying "put it back where it belongs" but I have an "issue" with hospitals and the flesh mechanics as well.

But as a collegue pointed out, if I was a cat they'd have plated it.

 

[No Skid Marks]

If it doesn't heal, it's very very expensive to get fixed later. A mate is going through this now, after years of having it not connected and waiting to get it done.
I'm no doctor, obviously, but I'd be getting it plated for what seems like logical reasons.

 

[Morgan123]

Just to throw another spanner in the works i didn't get mine plated and it has resulted in a visible bump. But I could sleep on it within two weeks and haven't had a single problem with it ever. Can wear backpacks no worries and i get to show chicks my bump

My collarbone was like this /\ except not as steep and it healed fine. Yours does look a lot worse, definitely see a specialist.

 

[Holf]

i broke mine 2 days ago waiting to see specialist on monday.., Any one know where can buy a cross brace near melbourne? tried pharmacies near me for one ordered one off ebay but will take to long 9+ days. Want to get fitted by one asap

 

[Holf]

back from the specialist and surgery it is he w as worried about the bone coming thou the skin and i get back to work faster this way. Hopefully in 2 months be back to 100% riding again

 

[Mywifesirrational]

back from the specialist and surgery it is he w as worried about the bone coming thou the skin and i get back to work faster this way. Hopefully in 2 months be back to 100% riding again

That sounds like a pretty good outcome.

Just remember when you get back on the bike, you'll be physically weaker - particularly around the shoulder and arm, and perhaps the skills not as sharp, take it easy until it gets back to normal strength.

Has there been outpatient rehabilitation organised? Generally they skip it if your young and healthy.

 

[Holf]

ya deff be taken it easy, nah gave me nothing like that wont be doing much till i can take sling off anyway but i prob will book into physio anyway.

 

[Holf]

Day before and after the surgery, IDK why its so big sorry

 

[pharmaboy]

haha, busy week, I was reading this thread a couple of weeks ago, and where do I find myself on wednesday morning? ED been asked if I want the conservative option or the surgical one if its offered. Long story short.



Hurt before, hurt after, still hurts - thank God for Endone

 

[Holf]

nice break lol, i had to wait a week to see the spec then sent me in, but my pain isnt bad as others seem to have the strong drugs make me feel like crap more than the little pain i got, pandol fort is enough to sleep for me got some oxycontin and endone to but the oxy makes me feel like in a daze half the day after taking it the night before. So think i just use fort or endone to sleep and panadol during the day. But have to sleep in a recliner!!! isnt so fun especially when your feet hang past the end and wake up with sore ankles..

 

[No Skid Marks]

I didn't take pain killers, and I think it helped reduce recovery time. You soon get sorta used to the pain, but you don't do anything that you might with pain killers, like sleep in bad possitions, over stretch etc.
This is mine
Mine was done on April 12. Still feels a touch dodgy, and the nerves in the skin over it a rooted. Probably take a couple of years for them to just become numb I'm guessing, but it'll never feel normal and unsensative again I'd say.

 

[pharmaboy]

Generally, my level of pain has surprised me, but at the same time it should be a 20min procedure, and I was in theatre for over an hour, so suspect that there was a fair bit of rooting around inside me to get things lined up etc.

On the pain relief front, it seems that using nsaids or cox2's is bad for bone growth and slows recovery. Which is a bit of a shit, because I did take a dose of ibuprofen because it was bone pain, and it was very effective - then the wife mentions that it might not be good for bone growth, and sure enough, google tells me i'm better off with paracetamol and morphine based analgesia (wife had heard the discussions in rheumotology conferences)