Ok so it has now been about 3 years since I went through this process and I recieved a phone call from a guy in California that had the same complicated fracture that I had. So I will provide this info to all as I wish I had such information 3 years ago. My first recommendation is to get a good doctor, do your research and talk to people about that doctor. This was my first mistake. So after 6 months of waiting for the bone to heal on it's own and an MRI later it was necessary to install a plate. I had three surgery's on my clavicle and had broken 2 plates, the first after 4 months (did this playing golf but did get my doctors approval to play). This first plate was a titanium plate with seven screws (with a bone graft). Doctor told me the plate broke due to fatigue and that the bone was not healing. Second plate (stainless steel, why stainless steel, titanuim is stronger?) was put in and a bone stimulator was implanted in my chest. The idea behind the stimulator was to enhance the blood flow to the break. Oh yea, and another bone graft (and they hurt worse than the shoulder pain). 10 months go by and snap goes the second plate (I was super careful about lifting or anything, including golf, during those 10 months). However after 10 months I decide to hit a few golf balls, snap! broke again. But 10 months gone by, had to be healed by then! Throughout the process Xrays were never very clear. Now this doctor tells my geeze I don't know what to do for you I guess you will just have to live with the fracture. Wrong! I find another surgeon, this time a Trauma specialist from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Guy was awesome! First thing he says is he believes that the reason the bone was not healing was because he felt the ends of the fracture were not allowing proper blood flow. Hmmm...never heard this from the other guy. He also did not want to use bone from my hip, he was giong to use a substance called rhBMP. So I had the 3rd surgery with rhBMP with another titanium plate and 9 screws. Today I am 100% healed (xrays show perfect bone growth), no pain, still riding motocross, snowmobiles, and working out. I still have the plate in and am thinking about removing it. It does not hurt but frankly it is a little annoying especially with the seat belt in my car as the plate is in my left shoulder. Still up in the air on this decision.
With my fracture, I wish I would have had surgery on day one. I am not saying this would be the case for everyone but I had 2 breaks (looked like a Z) and even my limited medical knowledge (I am an engineer though) had me questioning if this break could really heal on it's own. I think that the rhBMP (recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein) was a big factor in the healing process. You can google it and there is tons of info out there.
Good luck to those of you with this fracture and I cannot reiterate the importance of finding a GOOD doctor!.
