broken clavicle...surgery or not?
- Thread starter James Thomas
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Years ago I remember riding near a bridge then waking up in hospital. Apparently I over shot a corner and smashed my head and shoulder into a tree. I reckon this bridge was at least 10km before my acca, talk about a last afternoon /img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif
yesterday I ve been to my Doctor's with new xrays, the bone now has fused quite nicely and he recommended to remove the plate next September, 4 months earlier. He also told me that after that I should be quite careful for about 3 months until the holes mend too.
That's good to hear. My surgeon said I will probably want the plate taken out at some point because I am thin and my clavicles are apparent. We will see how it all feels though. As I told him, the plate can't be any more uncomfortable than this bone sticking up like a tent ^ right now. You can probably tell just by looking at my x ray. It is very apparent to the eye even just looking at me with a shirt off. It's on my left side so I have to wear my seat belt really low when driving a car, I can't properly wear a guitar strap or back packs anymore, I can't wear tank top shirts because the strap goes all weird, and I have to explain to anyone that gives me a massage or throws their arm over me what that bulge of bone is, hahaha. This on top of the regular pain and weakness that I have make me almost excited for surgery at this point...
not for long, after Feb 13th all these irregularities will disappear, it is very early to think about when you will have the plate out, you better concentrate to protect your affected arm after the surgery, keep it in the sling for some weeks until it creates some kind of union, you will feel it because you will be able to move it easier. I will try to upload my latest xray so you can see how the two parts fuse togetherbsbs1876 said:
Hi everybody,
just wanted to post un update to my surgery free injury, it's been now 3 months and 3 weeks since my accident and I went to see one of my three surgeons who said no surgery, he said it looks good...he examined my clavicle by touching and twisting the arm...it didn't hurt up until I complained that my shoulder seems to be frozen and he started to stretch the arm more and more and it hurt ...well he said I need kinesiotherapy and that 75% of my problems will go away just by doing this and the rest has to come in time but it will never feel just right like the other clavicle...but he said I can jog and do sports....I will not go to the gym but I will try jogging because I miss it!
I asked again about surgery if it is necessary and he said definitely no!...
honestly I am not happy with my range of motion so I am going to do the PT and kinesiotherapy and I will see from there...I also went to see this surgeon in Hungary and he also said the same, but I thing I wrote that already in another post, anyway I will post the last x ray...there is still a fragment that didn't quite go back but from the outside it's hardly noticeable....and I have no big lump even though I had a comminuted fracture.
just wanted to post un update to my surgery free injury, it's been now 3 months and 3 weeks since my accident and I went to see one of my three surgeons who said no surgery, he said it looks good...he examined my clavicle by touching and twisting the arm...it didn't hurt up until I complained that my shoulder seems to be frozen and he started to stretch the arm more and more and it hurt ...well he said I need kinesiotherapy and that 75% of my problems will go away just by doing this and the rest has to come in time but it will never feel just right like the other clavicle...but he said I can jog and do sports....I will not go to the gym but I will try jogging because I miss it!
I asked again about surgery if it is necessary and he said definitely no!...
honestly I am not happy with my range of motion so I am going to do the PT and kinesiotherapy and I will see from there...I also went to see this surgeon in Hungary and he also said the same, but I thing I wrote that already in another post, anyway I will post the last x ray...there is still a fragment that didn't quite go back but from the outside it's hardly noticeable....and I have no big lump even though I had a comminuted fracture.
the x ray to the left is the most recent one...what troubles me now is that the one on the right which is older looks better in the sense that the bone is more straight at the fracture site...I mean in the left picture there is much more callus but the bones are somehow overlapped could it be that they have shifted? is that bad? because the small part (the spike) that the surgeons said will get closer to the rest will eventually be cut off with a small 2 cm incision...
I wore the figure 8 harness and didn't move my arm much, slept on pillows so that the bones would rest in a good position and now this? I hope this is not alarming! I hope this is normal....maybe this happened because of the light PT exercises I have been doing?
we always were paying attention to the spike ...so that it wouldn't move...I mean I thought the bigger fragments weren't a problem because they were aligned ....from the exterior I don't see any lump...I don't understand...I started PT pretty late so the bones had time to heal properly, I also took some bone aid so that the callus would form faster...
Hi Clara,Originally Posted by Clara M .
the x ray to the left is the most recent one...what troubles me now is that the one on the right which is older looks better in the sense that the bone is more straight at the fracture site...I mean in the left picture there is much more callus but the bones are somehow overlapped could it be that they have shifted? is that bad? because the small part (the spike) that the surgeons said will get closer to the rest will eventually be cut off with a small 2 cm incision...
I wore the figure 8 harness and didn't move my arm much, slept on pillows so that the bones would rest in a good position and now this? I hope this is not alarming! I hope this is normal....maybe this happened because of the light PT exercises I have been doing?
we always were paying attention to the spike ...so that it wouldn't move...I mean I thought the bigger fragments weren't a problem because they were aligned ....from the exterior I don't see any lump...I don't understand...I started PT pretty late so the bones had time to heal properly, I also took some bone aid so that the callus would form faster...
Glad to hear things are shaping up for you. From my experience the bone will move a bit while it heals if it is not plated. My fracture moved a bit as it healed in the sling.
It looks as though yours came together in a bit of a malunion but you have pretty good position (especially compared to mine if you have seen my x ray). It also doesn't look like there is much shortening. If you have managed to get a good union in that position you might be pretty well off. By that I mean I don't think it will affect the rest of your shoulder too much. When the malunion is severely out of alignment then other parts of the shoulder compensate for it and kind of follow trend, at least in my case. It looks as though the bone becomes a little bit thinner at the fracture site though. I would ask your doctor how he feels about a possible easy second fracture if you land on that shoulder in the future.
I think one of the most important yet overlooked parts for clavicle healing is the position. Some doctors seem to think if the bone ends meet up and come together all is well. Mine did that but my shoulder is so messed up and uncomfortable it's not even funny. Although it's not perfect, yours is much straighter than mine and not as shortened.
Wishing you the best in the coming months!
Brad
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