Collarbone snapage.

[Dantheman]

6-week post-op yesterday. Tuesday is my ortho's day off so I just met with the PT. In his words I'm doing "exceptionally well" so I'm pretty psyched about that. Still no weight bearing, but got some more exercises to continue improving ROM. Meet with the ortho and PT again on 2/1 for x-rays and hopefully get cleared to start bearing some weight again.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Good job Dan. You said earlier that you broken your scapula too, what part did you break?

[Dantheman]

The body.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Me too, not this injury but before. Takes a bit to rehab all the rotator cuff muscles, they atrophy pretty fast.

[Dantheman]

8.5 week follow-up yesterday. I've pretty much regained 100% of my ROM at this point. Ortho and PT were very pleased with ROM and liked what they saw on the x-ray, but still want me pretty much non-weight bearing. Got bumped up to 10 pounds at my side and 5 pounds extended but no more than that. It's getting harder and harder to sit on the sidelines while the snow stacks up since I feel great, but I trust them when they say I cannot take a fall yet or overload the bone. At least we'll have a fat base when I get the green light.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

So, I'm going back to work on 2/21, a day shy of 8 weeks post op. If I had a desk job I would have been back weeks ago but I do a fair amount of lifting 30-50# surgical trays and transferring patients. Doc said everything looked good last week, the fracture and hardware look great. I have almost full motion and have been doing light strength training. I've been skiing carefully on groomers for since 2/5. I feel great other than AC joint arthritis from years of abuse and accidents. I still have some numbness in my pec, but I had some before from my flail chest and incision for the chest tube so it's not that much different.

[Dantheman]

I'm surprised they've cleared you to lift that much weight at 8 weeks. I was given much more conservative limits at that point.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I'm surprised they've cleared you to lift that much weight at 8 weeks. I was given much more conservative limits at that point.

All of my orthopedist friends, I work in the OR, have pretty much said it would be okay to go back to "normal" activity at 8 weeks. They all know what a moron I am too from previous injuries.

[Dantheman]

I guess it makes sense too since it's your livelihood. My ortho and PT know I'm a desk jockey most of the time and can make accommodations when I do field work.

Got out trail running yesterday. Shoulder felt great, legs not so much.

[The Suit]

10 week post-surgery check up for me today. I broke the heck out of my collarbone road biking in December. Two plates and double-digit screws. I was immobilized for 6 weeks, so rehab from the frozen shoulder has been tough. I've been rowing lightly and biking on rollers for about two weeks, but only today was I cleared to bike outside. I still have a fair amount of pain and somewhat limited range of motion. This has been my least favorite injury.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Kid on my wrestling team (I coach) snapped his collarbone a few weeks back. He kept wrestling for 30 seconds after he broke it until the ref saw something was wrong. Kid is pretty tough.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

10 week post-surgery check up for me today. I broke the heck out of my collarbone road biking in December. Two plates and double-digit screws. I was immobilized for 6 weeks, so rehab from the frozen shoulder has been tough. I've been rowing lightly and biking on rollers for about two weeks, but only today was I cleared to bike outside. I still have a fair amount of pain and somewhat limited range of motion. This has been my least favorite injury.

That's interesting, I've worked in the OR for almost 30 years and have never seen two plates applied to a clavicle. Do you have a pic of the x-ray? I'd be really interested in seeing this.

[talus]

Kid on my wrestling team (I coach) snapped his collarbone a few weeks back. He kept wrestling for 30 seconds after he broke it until the ref saw something was wrong. Kid is pretty tough.

sounds like he doesn't take after the coach! your team must be ranked up there w Blair academy

[Dantheman]

12-week follow up yesterday. Re-reading this thread and the other clavicle thread it appears my ortho/PT are taking an ultra-conservative approach. Kinda/sorta gave me the OK to ski (I've been cautiously skiing groomers with my 6 y.o. for six weeks, but haven't really been "skiing"), told me no riding for at least another month, and still very minimal weight bearing ("You can do lat pulls with up to 20 lbs, or 1-arm rows with 10 lbs. Next time we'll get you started on wall pushups." Oh yeah, that sounds great, thanks ).

Drove back to the office and promptly did a 60-second plank, 5 chair pushups and hung from a bar for 10 seconds. Felt totally fine and still do today. Ten bucks says I'm doing pullups before I go back for my final visit and xrays in 3 weeks.

[The Suit]

That's interesting, I've worked in the OR for almost 30 years and have never seen two plates applied to a clavicle. Do you have a pic of the x-ray? I'd be really interested in seeing this.

I don't have x-rays in electronic form, so I have to scan. I will try to remember to do that this weekend.

[The Suit]

That's interesting, I've worked in the OR for almost 30 years and have never seen two plates applied to a clavicle. Do you have a pic of the x-ray? I'd be really interested in seeing this.

this is all I've got:

[MagnificentUnicorn]

this is all I've got:

Interesting, you must have split the distal(lateral) end of the clavicle.

[The Suit]

Interesting, you must have split the distal(lateral) end of the clavicle.

All I know is I don't like it.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Yeah, I bet. I'm doing surprisingly well, no pain when skiing and my range of motion is great. This is kinda surprising given the severity of my fracture and it being the same side as the crush injury I had two years ago. I'm looking forward to see how I feel on the bike. My biggest problem now is mental. I'm fine in pow, corn, hardpack and groomers but when I get into some stiff windcrust I have a weird reaction. It's like I'm off my game, kinda like a ptsd thing maybe.

[DJ2]

Hmmm, broke on Nov 5, surgery on 10th to insert metal (see profile pix). No lifting arm past parallel until after metal removed Feb 9. Pretty good RoM two days later but pain stretching arm across chest. Got on bike Feb 15, three days skiing Feb 21-23. Plenty of soreness, but no real pain. Popping ibuprofen at a good clip. Heading to SLC/Jackson later this week.
Broken collarbone really sux; avoid if possible.

[strawjack]

this is all I've got:

That is funky looking. One on top and one under?

I'm just back here to say that having my plate removed is something I'm very happy about. Surgery was easy and essentially pain free post op. I took it relatively easy for six weeks, but nothing like post op after the initial surgery. Skinning last week with a pack felt great. Not feeling or seeing the screw heads under my skin is really nice also.

[Dantheman]

Final set of xrays was Tuesday (15 weeks). Looked good, you could still see some faint lines from the breaks but a lot more bone growth compared to 6 weeks ago. Dinked around at the skate park on the BMX bike last weekend and clearly wasn't ready for that. Pushups and pullups feel fine, but going to have to stick with suspended bikes for a while.

[Dantheman]

Quite a bit of time on the mountain bike the last two weeks, never noticed it riding. Did some very light deadlifting (135 lbs) last week and could feel that, so still not quite 100%.

[Dantheman]

Deadlifted 300# for a triple last week without issue. I can also finally do full-depth dips and muscle-ups without any discomfort. Seems reasonable to call it 100% now.

[Dantheman]

I'm pretty sure I broke my scapula again on Aug. 14 (19 days ago). Wrecked on the MTB and fell on the back of my shoulder. Similar location and type of pain to the previous break (below and behind my shoulder). Hurt like hell at first to the point that I could just barely operate my car's manual tranny, then improved enough in the first week that I thought maybe I had just bruised the piss out of it. But, now almost another two weeks out and I still get wincing pain from certain movements, such as brushing my teeth, which makes me think bone is involved.

Passive ROM is actually pretty good and there doesn't seem to be any indication that a break would be anywhere that surgery is commonly indicted (glenoid neck, acromion process). It feels like the same spot as before which was the scapular body. Would I be total idiot to not get this x-rayed? Body fractures are almost never operated on, and I haven't come close to hitting my insurance deductible for the year so x-rays and an evaluation will cost me a couple hundred dollars out of pocket. I'd really rather not incur that cost just to be told "Yep, scapular body fx, take it easy for 4-6 weeks."

Edit: Talked to my PT, he said that while he alway prefers to have images wait-and-see was a reasonable approach in this case based on symptoms.