who has broken their collar bone riding?

[bam_six]

I snapped my collar bone and cracked my shoulder blade in half recently at the you yangs. just had sugery to put a titanium plate on my collar bone cos it was pretty smashed up and wouldnt have healed properly! top half was pushing through the skin and the bottom half was extremely close to puncturing my lung.

who else has done their collar bone? anyone with plates in? how long till u got back on the bike and regular life?

its only been 2.5weeks since the crash and 1 week since surgery, and i am going insane not being able to do well anything at all! let alone ride again

 

[LIAM?!]

I was there mate, that was farked.
I've broken my collar bone 3 times, not really as bad as yours, but trust me i'll suffer worst long term. I cant use my left shoulder, arm for holding things up above my head or anything for an amount of time nor can I sleep on it, so try to avoid it again because it sucks...

Took me 6 weeks (average) each time I broke it, but I broke them all in a row and jumped back into riding when I really shouldnt have, so just sit back and relax man you will be back on it in no time...

Oh and I cant touch directly on my collar bone or put any pressure around that area, sucks.

 

[bam_six]

did u see it happen? i knew staight away i snapped it but was so shocked when i was in hospital and they said i snapped my shoulder blade haha!

sounds like yours is pretty messy from all the breaks. im definately gonna get back into it slowly and make sure i rehabilitate it properly. i need full function back cos i do too many sports like snowboarding, rock climbing, riding, kayaking, rafting and being a sports teacher and personal trainer i kind of need my arm to be at its best!

lol i hope the stack looked good at least. i had my helmet camera on but the stupid thing was on photo mod so it missed the whole thing!

 

[furry forester]

I broke mine last year and had it plated - I broke mine near the ac joint and apparently they are the slowest to heal. I followed the surgeons advice and had 7 weeks off work (i do physical work). Another couple of weeks taking it easy and then another couple before i could ride. Once I got to the point where the surgeon was happy with the x-rays and said the plated area was stronger than the rest of the collar bone I started riding again.
The big thing for me was taking the physio seriously after I came out of the sling, I now have full movement, most of my strength and only a small amount of sensitivity in the area. I'm still a few months off deciding if the plate can/should come out. Apparently it takes 12 months for it to fully heal!
I've now had so many x rays they gave me last one for free - frequent flyer miles - woohoo!
Hope this helps, but seriously take advice from the professionals, every break is different and while farkin has plenty of members of the clavicle club, i doubt theres much professional medical help to be had!

 

[Fatman]

Busted my left collar bone years ago, it broke right near the shoulder joint not in the middle and took eight weeks to heal. I didn't really get back into riding for quite a few months after and it's still painful on really cold days.

 

[BM Epic]

Broke mine 2 years ago on the old shute at yellowmundee, broke it on the point of the shoulder, 6 weeks off the bike!
Have had a broken right thumb for 6 months and only just had it looked at, been wondering why it still hurts after 6 months!

 

[Jzx90]

Does riding motorbikes count?

Broke my left one when I went otb on my motorbike shoulder first into the ground.
Didn't know it was broken at the time until I went to the doctor 3 days later.
Probably ached on and off for the next year, especially when it was cold or about to rain.
Think I wore a sling for about 3 weeks, it was 14 years ago so its a bit vague now. Took about 2 months off riding.

Broke the right one playing soccer at school. Some tubby kid thought we were playing rugby and tackeld me, went into my chemistry exam afterwards and couldn't concentrate. Got sent to the sick room, they told me I broke my collar bone. The right one I would have been in a sling for about the same time, but was back on the bike in about 6 weeks. Never had any trouble from this one though.

Right one was a clean break through the middle and Left was a messy fracture.

 

[Turner_rider]

Broke my left collar bone into 4 pieces hitting it on an aluminium flat tray of a ute at 40km/h when pulled in front of me.

7 screws and a metal plate and 3 months off the bike as instructed.

Take your time to let it heal properly as pulling your screws getting back into things too early is more common than you think.

 

[Tallman]

I broke mine - watch it here >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OvvBdAvIA0 <<

Funny thing about that crash is that I had just cased it the last two times done minutes before, and on this run in my shoe came off but I kept going for some reason...


Re. the collarbone - I was riding again just around town locally within two weeks. Sure, it hurt if I moved that shoulder much, but I just wanted to ride again!

 

[woody 14]

i did my left one riding at night and rode into a pole at about 20kph. i snaped it right in the middle so it didnt take to long for it to heal. 2 weeks later and i was able to ride, like just round the streets no dh or anything until about a month and a half after it happened. so that wasnt too bad.

 

[._._._._._.]

Been there, done that. 6 weeks is average (as was mine), but that's without plates or screws/rods/wires etc. I just smacked the bottom bone in my big left toe into 8 pieces, cracked two of the meta-tarsals and snapped a little bit off of the top bone in the big toe. It is quite a mess, and I think there's like 5 months off at the least. Not very stoked, broken bones suck big time

 

[elliotdhmcgeary]

I broke mine - watch it here >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OvvBdAvIA0 <<

Funny thing about that crash is that I had just cased it the last two times done minutes before, and on this run in my shoe came off but I kept going for some reason...


Re. the collarbone - I was riding again just around town locally within two weeks. Sure, it hurt if I moved that shoulder much, but I just wanted to ride again!

I've actually seen this on YT looking at other MTB crashes! Gotta love those road gap crashes, oh how they are always the best, maybe not for the one crashing.

Although on the plus side for the crasher, you can tell your mates how you were doing something massive! or tell them you came off a Ducati at 250km/h on the ocean road, either is still cool!

 

[cameron_15]

Wow, Lots of TCC (titanium Clavicle Crew) Members here!

I've been a member for about 5 weeks now, quite a funny story, I'll post it.

It all started on the 16th of january, my mate slipped over working at a chicken shop, broked his collar bone. Lol I thought, He came to my house and I watched videos of people braking there collar bones and in general, "gave him shit".

On the 18th i was working a a bike shop, talking about it and the other guy that works there told me how he did his and basically said if you haven't broken your collar bone your not trying hard enough. We then planned a day off to go to buller the next day.

I went home, watched some NWD9, got a bit excited, went for a ride and broke my collar bone, I didn't know until i started dusting off my back. i moved my arm behing my back and um... heard all kinds of grinding. felt my collar bone and felt a large bit of bone sticking up.

It didn't hurt until the moment I sat in the car to go to hospital.

My mate with the broken collar bone then informed me he needed surgery. I laughed. and again, "gave him shit". Then after his surgery i was eating dinner with him, I had full movement so i was rasing my arm and picking stuff up with my right arm.

After losing faith in the public health system i decided to use my private health insurance and go private. I then needed surgery. Shit! so i had y plate put in 4 weeks after the break.

Yeh, I'm not gonna laugh at injured people again

However, I have overtaken him in healing. his scar opened right up after a month and he had to go and have it stiched up again. He now has to have staples in for a month as his skin is to elastic, they don't want it to come open again... Sucker

Me on the other hand, I have a sick scar and my arm feels great. My break was also worse then his.

 

[bam_six]

yeh Im definately glad i did get the surgery done because the first doctor i saw said it would take about 12weeks to heel the way it was and things could still be messy.
and i like the idea of having titanium in my lol. Surgen said i keep it in for life unless i have issues with it and it gets annoying then take it out. My brother joked and said if i get it taken out sell it for scrap metal because titanium is worth a few bob. Id like to keep it as a trophy tho

Me on the other hand, I have a sick scar and my arm feels great.

my wound is so clean and will scar reasonably from the looks of it so far too! bring on the scar for the chicks

agreed CAMERON_15, private all the way!

 

[jamiec82]

Done mine last year riding my xc bike on the dh track at Stromlo. I was lucky it was a clean brake so no surgury, was off the bike for 4 weeks, off dirt for 6and raced an 8hr xc solo at Stromlo 7 weeks after.
Oh and just to let you know I also broke my Knee cap (IMHO far more painfull) the week after the Scott 24hr and was off the bike until xmas.

 

[racebmx]

i broke my collarbone on the 8th of november last year. i had it plated on the 13th of november. I wasnt allowed to ride at the bmx track till 18 weeks. But i rode my bike as soon as i got home from hospital although i didnt hold on with two hands for a couple of weeks. It also should be pointed out that i compound fractured my elbow at the same time. My elbow was double plated. But i have always had full movement of my shoulder. I reckon listen to what the doctor says.

 

[peachy]

Hey mate thats tough hearing about the break. Which track did it happen on. I'm assuming B&G... It wouldn't happen to have happened over the drop up the top into the rock garden?

 

[bam_six]

Hey mate thats tough hearing about the break. Which track did it happen on. I'm assuming B&G... It wouldn't happen to have happened over the drop up the top into the rock garden?

haha nope, stupid actually...at the start of Travs diamond. at the very start where there is that small wooden table-top as much pain as i was in i couldnt stop laughin at it in the car to the hospital

i just hit it super hard and fast and tried to get some big air off of it. dont know why, was so dumb. Landed over the front wheel on flat past the down ramp and the front wheel skidded out and i went over the bars. the people who saw it said i fell pretty hard.
i wish i did it on B&G instead. cos i was planning on trying that drop that day and also the road gap. but i had to crash on my 3rd run for the morning!

 

[Dene Dweller]

Snapped the tip off mine into about 5 pieces (not good at all) doing the AC joint as well. Surgery with a hook plate and about six months later plate removed and got back on the bike. Another 12 months until the bone has full strength as the holes left from the screws create weak points.

Just make sure the bone is healed before you get back on the bike, better off waiting another month or so and have it heal properly rather than snap it again.

 

[loucool]

Yeah I did mine riding some dodgey bmx track, hit a rock and jammed in my spokes and stuff. I was like 8 though, but i was back riding again in like a month, partly cause my parentals didn't want me riding much.