[Kevin]

So I broke my collarbone riding DH a couple months ago...
Was showing off obviously, whipping a jump and didnt get the bike back in time.
Result was a broken collarbone and 2 broken ribs.

Doc advised me to let it heal by itself but it didnt so after 8 weeks i finally got the surgery done.
Thats 2.5 weeks ago and Im looking into getting PT to help with the recovery.

Any of you monkeys been there? I realise its different for everyone, but kinda wondering how long its gonna be until im back on the bike and what youre experiences are.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Go to PT as much as your insurance will pay for. If you're low on funds, just go a few times to learn the stretches. Then make stretching your religion. Do it several times per day, everyday, like your life depends on it, like you're addicted to it. Absolutely do not slack off on it or you will have serious issues later in life in addition to reduced mobility.

No fucking around.

 

[eric strt6]

Pm rockofullr he just went through it

 

[cecil]

I didn't have the surgery when I broke mine no PT either just stretching to regain my range of motion
Listen to you body it will let you know if your overdoing it

 

[Kevin]

Cool thanks a lot for the info. Right now I cant move my arm more then an inch or so, so ill give them a call asap.
I wasnt really told just how important it was at the hospital either.

 

[jonKranked]

I fell out of bed and broke my collarbone when I was 4. That's all I got. I seem to recall a slight and no whiskey.

 

[boostindoubles]

The best PT is vigorous wanking.

 

[SkaredShtles]

The best PT is vigorous wanking.

 

[Kevin]

I fell out of bed and broke my collarbone when I was 4. That's all I got. I seem to recall a slight and no whiskey.

No whisky when you were 4? Sounds rough

 

[Kevin]

The best PT is vigorous wanking.

I have taken your advice into serious consideration

 

[jonKranked]

No whisky when you were 4? Sounds rough

It was like the dark ages.

 

[jdcamb]

I have taken your advice into serious consideration

If you can rub one out without pain. You're all set to go riding.

 

[rockofullr]

So I didn't get surgery but my understanding was that you can start PT within a few weeks of the operation. Start range of motion exercises asap.

The stuff I learned from my ac joint separation worked really well to rehab after the collar bone break.

Once your ROM is back all you need to do is get strength back. Here are some of the PT exercises I did. Once I was feeling stronger I threw in some inclined pushups and other harder stuff.

 

[rockofullr]

PS stationary biking, walking, and hiking are key to not melting into the couch. Stay as fit as possible.

 

[Kevin]

Awesome man, really appreciate it!

For the last 10 weeks melting into the couch has been exactly what ive been doing.
I couldnt move my arm without a lot of pain so i figured i shouldnt move at all.


Now after surgery i was supposed to come back for a check up 6 weeks later and the only thing I was told at the hospital was to move carefully within the limits of pain.
When I started hearing from/about people recovering and jumping on PT asap I went back to the hospital and they wrote me a note so i can use my insurance to cover it.
If it wasnt for that I would have rotted away another six weeks.

I called to make an appointment with my physical therapist this morning and he can see me on thursday.
Until then Ill just go for a big walk every day and ill check out those youtube links.

Thanks again everybody and @rockofullr, good luck with the new job!

 

[norbar]

View attachment 136568

So I broke my collarbone riding DH a couple months ago...
Was showing off obviously, whipping a jump and didnt get the bike back in time.
Result was a broken collarbone and 2 broken ribs.

Doc advised me to let it heal by itself but it didnt so after 8 weeks i finally got the surgery done.
Thats 2.5 weeks ago and Im looking into getting PT to help with the recovery.

Any of you monkeys been there? I realise its different for everyone, but kinda wondering how long its gonna be until im back on the bike and what youre experiences are.

I did nothing but I had surgery 3 days after the crash because I paid out of pocket for an expensive sports surgeon. To be honest it only matters if you didn';t use your arm for a long time. Unless there is soft tissue damage it's relatively easy to recover from a broken collar bone. I don't remember having any loss of mobility problems.

 

[Kevin]

I did nothing but I had surgery 3 days after the crash because I paid out of pocket for an expensive sports surgeon. To be honest it only matters if you didn';t use your arm for a long time. Unless there is soft tissue damage it's relatively easy to recover from a broken collar bone. I don't remember having any loss of mobility problems.

Nothing has been mentioned about soft tissue damage so I assume there is non.
But I got a little worried hearing from people starting PT days after surgery and stories about not getting full ROM back and I havent done anything in 10 weeks now.

On the other hand my surgeon said the operation was a bit different in my case because the fracture was 8 weeks old and he had to chip away a lot of bone growth and force everything back into position.
So hopefully im just being paranoid and everything will go well

 

[norbar]

Nothing has been mentioned about soft tissue damage so I assume there is non.
But I got a little worried hearing from people starting PT days after surgery and stories about not getting full ROM back and I havent done anything in 10 weeks now.

On the other hand my surgeon said the operation was a bit different in my case because the fracture was 8 weeks old and he had to chip away a lot of bone growth and force everything back into position.
So hopefully im just being paranoid and everything will go well

But your shoulder is not damaged so there should be no impairment to ROM.

The problem isn't the fracture but not doing anything for 10 weeks imho. You will lose muscle unevenly probably and yeah some range of movement but imho it should be temporary. Then again none of us are surgeons and your case is different than mine. I was riding my road bike 3 weeks after my surgery (doctors orders).

Overall it's better to do some PT than not. You will be in full form faster and you will fight any imbalance that happened during your off time but I just wouldn't stress. Though it is sad that they do the same in other countries as in Poland - first they try for it to heal on its own and only later use metal. Worst case scenario remember medical tourism is a thing and my collarbone surgery was 2k Euro

 

[Kevin]

I could have gone with surgery after 4 weeks but the surgeon advised against it.
He told me to give it another 3 weeks and things would probably be fine. If not surgery was still an option.
Unfortunately it didnt heal by itself and I pretty much wasted all that time waiting but Im not blaming anyone for that.

They said the chance of complications is real and in most cases they need to remove the metal after 6-9months. Which obviously means more surgery.

Luckily everything (up to 12 PT sessions iirc) is covered by insurance here in Holland so I dont have to worry about that.

 

[norbar]

I could have gone with surgery after 4 weeks but the surgeon advised against it.
He told me to give it another 3 weeks and things would probably be fine. If not surgery was still an option.
Unfortunately it didnt heal by itself and I pretty much wasted all that time waiting but Im not blaming anyone for that.

They said the chance of complications is real and in most cases they need to remove the metal after 6-9months. Which obviously means more surgery.

Luckily everything (up to 12 PT sessions iirc) is covered by insurance here in Holland so I dont have to worry about that.

Maybe depends on the surgeon and how they implement it? My surgeon didn't give me a time when I had to remove the metal so I did it after 12 months. I worked with some fancy shmancy super sports surgeon who operates on the national volleyball team so he should know his shit.

In here everything is also covered by insurance but the cast they've put me in was literally hell. I had both of my arms immobilized and it effectively gave me T-rex arms. Had to call my mother (enjoying single life at that time) to drive to my flat and wash my hair because I couldn't reach my head. Also sleeping was near impossible in mine. So I got pissed and paid out of pocket.

 

[Kevin]

Maybe depends on the surgeon and how they implement it? My surgeon didn't give me a time when I had to remove the metal so I did it after 12 months. I worked with some fancy shmancy super sports surgeon who operates on the national volleyball team so he should know his shit.

In here everything is also covered by insurance but the cast they've put me in was literally hell. I had both of my arms immobilized and it effectively gave me T-rex arms. Had to call my mother (enjoying single life at that time) to drive to my flat and wash my hair because I couldn't reach my head. Also sleeping was near impossible in mine. So I got pissed and paid out of pocket.

Holy shit that sounds horrible. Im only missing one arm and its bad enough without being in a cast or anything...
Dont you get help through your insurance for household stuff as well?
I can if id request it.

 

[rockofullr]

Nothing has been mentioned about soft tissue damage so I assume there is non.
But I got a little worried hearing from people starting PT days after surgery and stories about not getting full ROM back and I havent done anything in 10 weeks now.

Unless you had an MRI there's no way to know if there was any soft tissue damage. And since you've been immobilizing the shoulder you wouldn't be able to feel it.

After 10 weeks of immobilization that shoulder is gonna be very weak and sore at the very least. Get started with PT especially ROM work as soon as the Dr gives the ok. Structurally you should be good to go shortly after surgery.

 

[norbar]

Holy shit that sounds horrible. Im only missing one arm and its bad enough without being in a cast or anything...
Dont you get help through your insurance for household stuff as well?
I can if id request it.

Not in Poland. All you get is medical help. We spend an awfully small % of our GDP on Healthcare and we are less dense in Population so we should actually spend more %.

I was lucky I had some cash to spare.

 

[Kevin]

Just had my first session.
My therapist was amazed i didnt get more advice from the hospital regarding exercises and the fact i had to keep asking for new check ups and xrays.

Given my current ROM he said we have a long way to go and it might take half a year before Im back on my DH bike.
Need to do exercises three times a day and were gonna do PT sessions twice a week in the beginning and then bring it down to once a week...


Definitely making it my mission to do it in half that time but he already warned me it wont be easy.

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