broken clavicle...surgery or not?

[Dustin07]

Thanks for the pics of the scars folks.
I broke my collar bone 3 months ago and was given a sling and told to rest, which I did for 6 weeks. The bone was sticking out as it hadn't healed end to end. The NHS gave me a green light and said I wouldn't affect it by what activities I did so it was effectively healed.
I went private yesterday and was told there was movement and that after 3 months the chance of it joining properly was slim although it was trying! He thinks he will need to plate it which having just got used to the bump scares me as I'll have to get used to a scar. We have agreed to give it another month (just in case - probably to give me peace of mind that it is really required).

yeah, different strokes for different folks. some people are really bothered by the scar. And that's OK. Waiting is probably best for you. For me, I dig the scar and I'm also super happy about being at the gym only 2 months after the break (not trying to rub it in) but I'm also the kind of person that is severely affected when I don't get to exercise (mentally) so this was an appropriate choice for me I think.

 

[chiabin]

Anyone out there with a non-union collarbone? I broke mine 10 weeks ago and have been told that there is no union given the extent of the displacement and there will not now be any union unless I have surgery and bone graft. The latest Xrays show no union. The bone moves around quite a bit. There is definitely no healing going on.

I'm not in any pain and have full movement. My specialist advises against surgery given no pain etc.

Anyone had a similar experience i.e. non union and no surgery and carried on for months or years like that? Coming off bike again and landing on that shoulder with bone floating around is problematical is it not?

 

[tez]

Thank heavens for forums like these - makes me feel a lot better.

Anyhow, I've practically read the complete forum on this issue and noticed that the "healing process" usually varies from one to another but can anyone please advise about this:

I had to undergo clavicle surgery 3 months ago because the surgeon said that the bone was displaced pretty badly but now that 3 months have passed, I feel as though there are a ton of bricks on my shoulder making me slouch.

Another thing is that the area where the surgery was done on is still numb.

I discussed this problem with my doctor but he said that some major muscle was damaged and referred to me to a physiotherapist who gave me guidelines on exercises to follow and it's been a month but everything is still the same.

Can anyone please advise if this is normal? Is there any exercise that can help alleviate the pain as I haven't been able to get a decent's night sleep since the surgery?

 

[Chuck Eufarley]

NO SURGERY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look your clavical will heal by itself in about 6 weeks.It should have not issues with your back.I have had three shoulder surgeries and broken right and left clavicals. Unless it is an ugly break that you are going to problems with recovery, Iwould not recomend surgery. As part of your reb. include strenght training on your back muscles also.

 

[joeoh]

I broke my left clavicle a week ago by falling from my skateboard on blacktop. My collarbone is a break in the middle and the bone that is closer to my sterum is overlapping the other by about 2cm and my orthopaedist gave me the option of surgery or leaving it alone. He told me the pros and cons of both and didn't suggest one thing more than the other. I am a student and must cover 20% of my insurance costs and my biggest concern is just having this bump sticking out. I am quite active as I surf, lift weights and run... any advice for my situation would be deeply appreciated.

 

[Chuck Eufarley]

Funny thing about skateboards, they really like collar bones. Broke my right one on a "BANZAI" skateboard in '75(Hey I know). Broke by left one in '89 on a skateboard too. As far as the knot, at least mine were close to center, and there is one on each side.Never had any problems with them using the "old fashion" method. Shoulders are real tricky. Good luck.

 

[skurtik]

HI Skurtik, I'm sure the calcium doesn't hurt... but the extra doses are probably just wishfull thinking, I did the same thing extra juice, milk, etc. anywhere I could get it, LOL.

Yeah, do take care of that elbow. don't let it freeze up. And when you do start getting full movement again, my recommendation would be to go with VERY light weight and start moving the tendons slowly. I started hitting the weights after about 6 weeks. While the weight was very very low, I still had excructiating pain running from my tricep all the way down to my wrist. It went away after one dip in the hot tub though.

best of luck!

Thanks for the hints - I still take the calcium for a placebo. I have been taking my arm out of the sling and flexing the elbow and shoulder regularly. It has been 4 weeks since the surgery and I am surprised at how little stamina I have (I just started walking around the neighborhood) and I still rest all day and need pain pills to sleep. If I need to be active during the day, I have to take vicadin which I like to avoid. Is that normal after this type of surgery (my clavicle was shattered so they had to tie down the bone as there was no shoulder end to pin/plate together)? I am usually a very active person, so this is new territory.

 

[katiej]

ok, one for the girls, after the surgery what did you do about wearing bra's? any suggestions?

 

[skurtik]

I wore a strapless bra. They come in packs of 2 at Costco.

ok, one for the girls, after the surgery what did you do about wearing bra's? any suggestions?

 

[kip73]

update time.

fracture clinic appt yesterday gave the all clear to stop using the sling except in busy places to stop people knocking me. the bone has joined just under the plate but there isn't full union yet and it's been 6 weeks since the op. this isn't a big issue as union will happen but it wouldn't have on it's own so surgery was definately the right choice for me.

as for pain, none at the op site, as was demonstrated by the consultant prodding the bone and plate loads during the exam. my shoulder is really stiff and all my physio is based around getting movement back although at the moment it is all assisted passive stuff. this is because i am an active person and they said if they didn't put the constraints on my movements then i could do more damge than good. starting to get sore because muscles and stuff haven't been used for ages.

i am signed off for another 2 weeks but won't be allowed back to PE teaching until given the all clear by my Dr, so who knows when that will be. The school have to cover themselves and luckily half term is coming up so i wouldn't be teaching til Nov 6th anyway.

As for bra's, T-shirt bra's with pading stay up on their own on the side you can't wear the strap on although my dressing clinic suggested wearing the strap really loose and putting some dressing padding under it.

I can't believe how quickly the 6 weeks have gone since the op and, although it will be a while til i'm all fixed again, it was definately the right choice for me.

 

[katiej]

Well it's been 20 weeks since I broke my collar bone, treated conservatively-rested with a sling, and last week they decided that it wasn't calcifying and there was still movement. I am now booked in for my plate on 10th Nov. It wasn't hurting too badly until I started doing normal things like moving furniture and painting ceilings. Now it's hurting and my back is killing me. I'll be glad to get it fixed, i'll have a lump but at least everything will be in the right place and i won't have the huge lump.

Bit anxious as I live on my own. How well were you able to cope after 2/3 days. did you really need someone around or able to manage. Thinking about asking someone to stay for a couple of days to give me a hand. I also have a supply of take away delivery numbers on hand .

Any one have any idea how soon they can take the plate out.

Is the plate visible through the skin? I'm a bridesmaid next year.

 

[Chuck Eufarley]

Well it's been 20 weeks since I broke my collar bone, treated conservatively-rested with a sling, and last week they decided that it wasn't calcifying and there was still movement. I am now booked in for my plate on 10th Nov. It wasn't hurting too badly until I started doing normal things like moving furniture and painting ceilings. Now it's hurting and my back is killing me. I'll be glad to get it fixed, i'll have a lump but at least everything will be in the right place and i won't have the huge lump.

Bit anxious as I live on my own. How well were you able to cope after 2/3 days. did you really need someone around or able to manage. Thinking about asking someone to stay for a couple of days to give me a hand. I also have a supply of take away delivery numbers on hand .

Any one have any idea how soon they can take the plate out.

Is the plate visible through the skin? I'm a bridesmaid next year.

Sorry 'bout that! The first couple of days are STRANGE!!!, to say the least. Please..... Have someone help you the first couple of days. A friend. family, paper dude, it don't matter. DO NOT COME HOME TO CARE FOR YOURSELF!!! I don't care, you ain't that macho! Look cuttin' on the bod', da has got to be recoop time, if you you have to, stay at a motel with good room service!!! For real, get someone to stay, or stay with someone a day or two. ...GOOD LUCK..... talk to me.

 

[BarryJG]

Hello everyone,

After breaking my clavicle and reading all of this great info on clavicle breaks I figured I should post my little story. A women in a SUV not paying any attention, completely cut me off and stopped in front of me in my local park while I was riding my bike where I always ride my bike because cars know they are to look out for cyclists and pedestrians in the park and NEVER drive to the left. Well she for some stupid reason did. I tried not to hit her, slammed on the breaks and went over the handle bars doing around 15-18mph and hit the ground hard. I dislocated my index and middle finger of my left hand, ended up with like 15 or so stitches in my right ear and broke my right clavicle into 4 pieces. The day after this, I saw an orthopedist who said that my break was pretty bad but they "don't usually operate on clavicles" because they heal themselves. My uncle broke his pretty simply and it did heal on its own. But when I looked at my X-rays I thought it looked pretty bad and if it was to heal like it was I would never be the same. I had bad tenting of the skin where the bone was trying to puncture. So he told me to come back in a week. Stayed in the figure-of-8 brace for a few days but didn't feel it was doing anything so I took it off and just wore the sling. The next week the Dr. took 2 more X-rays and said we should still just wait to see what happens, but noted that he were to send me to this other Dr. that he would say to have surgery. So to me that means that I needed surgery and after reading all these posts thought that it would be the best bet. After the last visit with the Dr. he said to come back in 2 weeks to see how things were. I was not happy with his answer. So I got a second opinion from a well recommended sports/orthopedist Dr. He took 1 look at my skin tenting from the broken bone, 1 look at the X-rays and said that I should have had the surgery done already and that I needed it done that week by either my Dr. or him. So I forgot about the first guy and went to him that Thurs. for the surgery. A titanium plate and screws.

I cannot tell you all how very happy I am to have had this done!!! Today is exactly 3 weeks from my fall and 1 week from surgery. I started going back to the gym today with NO pain in my shoulder. Not lifting anything really with this arm, just moving it up and around. I feel like myself again. The surgery was so simple. They started at 10am and I was home in bed by 1pm same day. I was in some pain the first day but that quickly subsided the next. Was also overshadowed by the horrible rash that I got from the pain killers. Be careful with that oxycodone!! If you start scratching alot, stop taking it. I got a rash over my entire body. The Dr. also did not use any stitches, just disolveable ones under the skin and butterfly over the top. I have a slight bit of numbness on my shoulder but I really dont care about that. Having a mostly working arm again is more important. The Dr. said that I had more then a 2cm displacement and that would never heal on its own. Even if it did heal together, I would imagine that 2cm shorter of a shoulder would lead to all kinds of problems later in life. Also if it did puncture the skin that would be a bigger problem possibly leading to bad infection.

For the cases of bad breaks with a lot of displacement and in multiple pieces, I would lean toward surgery. Your recovery time can be very minimal and you will have a clavicle pretty much as it was before but with some added hardware. As with all, I might need to have the plate removed in 18 months, but I dont mind either way. Having a working body is something that I won't take for granted anymore!!!

Cheers

 

[Chuck Eufarley]

Hello everyone,

After breaking my clavicle and reading all of this great info on clavicle breaks I figured I should post my little story. A women in a SUV not paying any attention, completely cut me off and stopped in front of me in my local park while I was riding my bike where I always ride my bike because cars know they are to look out for cyclists and pedestrians in the park and NEVER drive to the left. Well she for some stupid reason did. I tried not to hit her, slammed on the breaks and went over the handle bars doing around 15-18mph and hit the ground hard. I dislocated my index and middle finger of my left hand, ended up with like 15 or so stitches in my right ear and broke my right clavicle into 4 pieces. The day after this, I saw an orthopedist who said that my break was pretty bad but they "don't usually operate on clavicles" because they heal themselves. My uncle broke his pretty simply and it did heal on its own. But when I looked at my X-rays I thought it looked pretty bad and if it was to heal like it was I would never be the same. I had bad
tenting of the skin where the bone was trying to puncture. So he told me to come back in a week. Stayed in the figure-of-8 brace for a few days but didn't feel it was doing anything so I took it off and just wore the sling. The next week the Dr. took 2 more X-rays and said we should still just wait to see what happens, but noted that he were to send me to this other Dr. that he would say to have surgery. So to me that means that I needed surgery and after reading all these posts thought that it would be the best bet. After the last visit with the Dr. he said to come back in 2 weeks to see how things were. I was not happy with his answer. So I got a second opinion from a well recommended sports/orthopedist Dr. He took 1 look at my skin tenting from the broken bone, 1 look at the X-rays and said that I should have had the surgery done already and that I needed it done that week by either my Dr. or him. So I forgot about the first guy and went to him that Thurs. for the surgery. A titanium plate and screws.

I cannot tell you all how very happy I am to have had this done!!! Today is exactly 3 weeks from my fall and 1 week from surgery. I started going back to the gym today with NO pain in my shoulder. Not lifting anything really with this arm, just moving it up and around. I feel like myself again. The surgery was so simple. They started at 10am and I was home in bed by 1pm same day. I was in some pain the first day but that quickly subsided the next. Was also overshadowed by the horrible rash that I got from the pain killers. Be careful with that oxycodone!! If you start scratching alot, stop taking it. I got a rash over my entire body. The Dr. also did not use any stitches, just disolveable ones under the skin and butterfly over the top. I have a slight bit of numbness on my shoulder but I really dont care about that. Having a mostly working arm again is more important. The Dr. said that I had more then a 2cm displacement and that would never heal on its own. Even if it did heal together, I would imagine that 2cm shorter of a shoulder would lead to all kinds of problems later in life. Also if it did puncture the skin that would be a bigger problem possibly leading to bad infection.

For the cases of bad breaks with a lot of displacement and in multiple pieces, I would lean toward surgery. Your recovery time can be very minimal and you will have a clavicle pretty much as it was before but with some added hardware. As with all, I might need to have the plate removed in 18 months, but I dont mind either way. Having a working body is something that I won't take for granted anymore!!!

Cheers

Agree!!! Sometimes the knife is the best way , just don't like the thought.

 

[katiej]

Sorry 'bout that! The first couple of days are STRANGE!!!, to say the least. Please..... Have someone help you the first couple of days. A friend. family, paper dude, it don't matter. DO NOT COME HOME TO CARE FOR YOURSELF!!! I don't care, you ain't that macho! Look cuttin' on the bod', da has got to be recoop time, if you you have to, stay at a motel with good room service!!! For real, get someone to stay, or stay with someone a day or two. ...GOOD LUCK..... talk to me.

Thanks for the advice. I've asked my auntie to stay for a couple of days so I'll be ok. Not long now, be back home by this time next week.

 

[cnielsen]

Wow, this thread has indeed make me realise I am not alone and given me lots of good information. Thank you for sharing.

I broke my collarbone snowboarding back in August. Shoulder was hanging down 5 cm. Painful but not mind-numbing. Was a clear break and bone ends were too far apart to ever find each other naturally. My only option was really surgery. Had op 24 Aug, 6 days after the break - "open reduction of left clavicle with titanium pin" by experienced Sydney surgeon.



The general knocked me around a bit, as op took around 1 1/2 hours, but generally recovery had been fine (less the constipation). I was out of hospital in 2 days, stopped pain killers another 2 days later and stopped wearing arm brace out after 3 weeks.



Six weeks after the operation x-rays came back clear. I was now sleeping on all sides but the left. Scar was not too bad - thin and red, right on the bone, 6cm long. I'm a girl and I got over it, happy to have good movement back, prob 80-90%.



Seven weeks after the operation my scar flared up on one side, a couple of days later bursting with fluid and puss. After a few runs of anti-biotics, the scar opening now had a sinus (formed a small 5mm x 5mm tract from surface of skin toward the bone, visible via only a small pillow of flesh on the surface) and was not healing. Swap results came back and showed no infection/organism growing. Three weeks after the inflammation, I went back into hospital overnight for "exploration, flush out and re-stitch". Swap result came back with the same result - no infection/organism growing.



Today is one week out from the explorative surgery and I saw my surgeon this morning. My scar is slightly weeping (on the other side of the scar this time) with clear orange coloured fluid, no puss. We don't know why, but we must assume says my surgeon, that if my scar does not heal up by itself in the next few weeks, that its unusually something to do with the pin even though there is no infection, and it may have to be taken out. The pin is supposed to stay in, unlike the plates you are all referring to.



Would love to hear if anyone has experienced the same issues. I would hate to have to go through having the pin taken out and the following recovery which we all love, based on assumptions only.



In any case, I hope sharing my story above has been beneficial to someone out there, like reading all yours have been to me.



Happy health, C

 

[recoverydoc]

Hear are a few tips for scars. I work with many professional boxers and this is what I use on them.

1. make sure the wound is well covered in triple antibiotic (bacteria create more scar tissure)
2.Once the stiches are out or staples you can use any of the scar creams that are sold.(mederma)
3. After a few weeks you can add the scar gel pads by curad or spenco second skin. They are silcone gel pads that continure to promete healing and changes in the scar.

It takes 6 months for the scar tissue to heal completely and go threw a remodel phase and if you do these few things early and often it will make a difference in appeance.

 

[cnielsen]

Thank you for that very quick reply/advice! I really appreciate it.

I am off any type of anti-biotics, as I have no infections and I am just covering the scar with a sterile breatable bandage (and water proof one when showering). After the first surgery I put Bio Oil on the scar (over the counter stuff) after researching a few different scar healing products, including e-vitamin capsules and the gel pads. I never got to the gel pads, as the scar opened, but I might consider that now.

Right now I am concerned about the scar/wound healing up/not weeping than appearance, but I am sure I will focus more on that later (in fact today is over 48 hours since it last weeped, but I am reluctant to get my hopes up yet).

6 months for scar tissue to heal completely - that is great to know. I wonder if swimming in the sea/exposure to the sun and salt water/chloride is ok...beaches/pools here in Sydney are calling me. I try not to be too concerned about over-stretching it, but I sometimes find myself holding my arm in a funny position.

Thanks again!

C

Hear are a few tips for scars. I work with many professional boxers and this is what I use on them.

1. make sure the wound is well covered in triple antibiotic (bacteria create more scar tissure)
2.Once the stiches are out or staples you can use any of the scar creams that are sold.(mederma)
3. After a few weeks you can add the scar gel pads by curad or spenco second skin. They are silcone gel pads that continure to promete healing and changes in the scar.

It takes 6 months for the scar tissue to heal completely and go threw a remodel phase and if you do these few things early and often it will make a difference in appeance.

 

[recoverydoc]

Thank you for that very quick reply/advice! I really appreciate it.

I am off any type of anti-biotics, as I have no infections and I am just covering the scar with a sterile breatable bandage (and water proof one when showering). After the first surgery I put Bio Oil on the scar (over the counter stuff) after researching a few different scar healing products, including e-vitamin capsules and the gel pads. I never got to the gel pads, as the scar opened, but I might consider that now.

Right now I am concerned about the scar/wound healing up/not weeping than appearance, but I am sure I will focus more on that later (in fact today is over 48 hours since it last weeped, but I am reluctant to get my hopes up yet).

6 months for scar tissue to heal completely - that is great to know. I wonder if swimming in the sea/exposure to the sun and salt water/chloride is ok...beaches/pools here in Sydney are calling me. I try not to be too concerned about over-stretching it, but I sometimes find myself holding my arm in a funny position.

Thanks again!

C

The triple antibiotic is a cream/ointment not oral and prevents a locale infection and helps the wound heal. As long as the wound is closed your ok in the sea/sun just use the standard protection. Make sure you get proper rehab on that shoulder and its normal for it to feel funny. Best of luck

 

[cnielsen]

OK, I see what you mean, its for healing too not just appearance and helps wand off infection - I will ask at the pharmacy if they have that today.
Thank you! Cx

The triple antibiotic is a cream/ointment not oral and prevents a locale infection and helps the wound heal. As long as the wound is closed your ok in the sea/sun just use the standard protection. Make sure you get proper rehab on that shoulder and its normal for it to feel funny. Best of luck