Broken clavical success stories?

[Chipotle]

Well, I finally did it: I joined the broken collar bone club. I had surgery to install a plate and ten screws. The first week was a blur, but I'm into week two and I want to get back on my bike, albeit basement bound one handed on the Computrainer, or maybe a recumbant trainer at the gym. I've been told to wait 8 weeks, if I remember correctly, before I risk going out on the road and the doc said, if I'm smart I would wait 12 weeks to mountain bike.

I just wanted to hear from other "club members" about how successful they were at coming back. What were your experiences? How long did it take? Anyone return even stronger? I've lost a lot of weight from lack of appetite. I hope to lose even more. I'm still over weight. I'll get the muscle back. I had a great base untill the crash. Is there hope?

 

[sabrops]

I broke mine at the end of April but did not have surgery. I was back on the trainer after one week. The healing process ended up being much slower and frustrating than I expected. After six weeks, there was no sign of healing at all in x-rays (although I did feel much better and had even started riding the road a bit). Just now is it starting to be completely unnoticeable unless I do something to tweak it. Mountain biking before about 11-12 weeks would have been pretty much unthinkable.

That all said, I started racing again after about eight weeks. In retrospect, this was probably kinda dumb and I'm not really sure why I did, but I feel great now so I guess I didn't do any major damage. Anyway, don't expect it to heal overnight but it will almost certainly heal back to 100%.

 

[bing181]

I did mine 2 years back .. almost to the day .. riding all alone on a straight bike path. God knows how!

Anyway, on a trainer in about 10 days, and out on the road just over 2 weeks after that. But I didn't have any metal/pins/plates etc.

I could still feel it for quite a while, and was VERY tentative on the bike for quite a while as well, but after a few months, things seemed to return to normal .. well, I still get the odd twinge.

Ironically enough, one year to the day after doing my collarbone, went into an invisible pothole in the middle of a puddle on my city bike, over the handlebars and smashed up my face pretty bad. Still not sure which was worst!

Just do what the doc. wants .. it will eventually pass. Hang in there.

B

 

[PartisanRanger]

Sorry to hear about that, Chipotle. I broke my right clavicle in a race on June 24th, and had surgery to rejoin the disunified bone segments on July 5th. I was able to use my trainer one-handed just days after the injury, but getting back on the bike takes a while. Spinning inside just bores me so I only did it a handful of times. My first ride on the road came 5 weeks after surgery and it felt great to be back out. I lost about 1.4 mph from my best pre-injury ride to my first post-injury ride on a familiar route, which isn't that bad. And just today I rode the same route 0.5 mph faster, so my loss in fitness wasn't nearly as big as I suspected. It kinda sucks not being able to get out and ride for so long, but the time passes faster than you might suspect.