Advocacy & Safety - Collerbone protection???

hey guys...I was wondering if there are any jackets or pads that protect the collerbone area as I have noticed many, if not all brands, offer minimum collerbone portection. I broke my collerbone when I was 14 (now 17) and it gives me pain occasionally, and if i break it again, i think i'm pretty much effed. So, any suggestions???

Yeh. I suggest that whoever treated the break when you were 14 was incompetant. When I cracked two ribs six weeks of pain and 6 months for complete healing. And I was in my 50s. If your collarbone is still hurting three years later something is WRONG. Find a bone expert who has no connections with the people who treated you the first time and tell them about the continuing pain. It is not right to be in pain for a simple bone break 3 years later. Especially for someone your age. If your parents or guardian say just live with it start by talking with your High School nurse. Sorry outside of a body cast I do not know of anyway to shield the collarbone.

Breaking the collarbone is a fairly common upright bike injury. As far as serious injuries go. Recumbent riders don't break collarbones. Legs maybe. So if you're really worried about it, you could consider a recumbent. There are some really cool ones out there.

The only thing I don't like about recumbents on the road is the fact that they are extremely low-profile. They also seem to be a bit wider and that bit wider sometimes makes a difference, unless you're guaranteed to have a good shoulder wherever you cycle.

It's just something to consider. If you are not interested then you're not.

A lot of people are able to keep riding when otherwise they would not be able to. And ithers, like me, just think they're fun.

On a regular bike, learn to fall. Don't reach out to break your fall. Tuck your head, and roll along the outside of your arm, transferring the forces to the soft spots of your body. This is the muscular areas, the outside of the arm, the deltoid muscles of the back, the hips and thighs. These techniques can be learned in gymnastic classes, or judo/jujitsu/aikedo (for you, I'd recommend aikedo, as it is the least likely to cause a traumatic injury, and its practitioners take responsibility for the safety of those who attack them).

Or, you could start riding a recumbant bicycle. With the feet forward posture, a broken collarbone is much less likely than on an upright bike.

John

PS--excepting certain very specialized pieces of equipment (football shoulder pads, smokejumper's tree-jump suit with 1" foam pads) there are no pieces of typical clothing which will prevent a broken collarbone. The impact, and the way it is handled determines the injury, and padding doesn't have much to do with it.

hey guys...I was wondering if there are any jackets or pads that protect the collerbone area as I have noticed many, if not all brands, offer minimum collerbone portection. I broke my collerbone when I was 14 (now 17) and it gives me pain occasionally, and if i break it again, i think i'm pretty much effed. So, any suggestions???


I busted my collarbone into several pieces, as well as having splinters all over the place, in a non-cycling accident almost two months ago. I was told there was little they could do/apply to restrict your motion; and that I should just let it heal and be careful (1) not to lift/pull, yank things and (2) don't fall on it. It still hurts; even though it has largely re-fused, there is a fine crack down the middle that is healing far more slowly, and it might have to be 'screwed' together.

A buddy of mine who is a hockey player smashed up his collarbone years ago, and he says it still hurts from tiem to time, especially when you 'shrug' your shoulders. I suppose the fact the other guy got a 2 minute boarding penalty, is slight consolation.

roughstuff

Yeh. I suggest that whoever treated the break when you were 14 was incompetant. When I cracked two ribs six weeks of pain and 6 months for complete healing. And I was in my 50s. If your collarbone is still hurting three years later something is WRONG. Find a bone expert who has no connections with the people who treated you the first time and tell them about the continuing pain. It is not right to be in pain for a simple bone break 3 years later. Especially for someone your age. If your parents or guardian say just live with it start by talking with your High School nurse. Sorry outside of a body cast I do not know of anyway to shield the collarbone.

The collar bone is an easy bone to break. I’m no a doctor, but I’ve know a few people who have broken their collar bones. Usually there is nothing surgical that doctors can do for this break. They just let it fuse, with varying results.

I have never seen any protection for the collar bone in bike gear. Learning to fall "right" looks like one of the best alternatives. However, many of the breaks are caused by something stiking the bone directly, falling on your shoulder, hitting the shoulder on a tree, that sort of thing.

weight training with explosive olympic style movements.

. . . If your collarbone is still hurting three years later something is WRONG. Find a bone expert who has no connections with the people who treated you the first time and tell them about the continuing pain. It is not right to be in pain for a simple bone break 3 years later. Especially for someone your age. If your parents or guardian say just live with it start by talking with your High School nurse. Sorry outside of a body cast I do not know of anyway to shield the collarbone.
How do you know this? Even if you're an orthopedic surgeon, you haven't examined hulkster's x-rays, have you?

The problem with having pads to prevent collarbone breaks is that the collarbone doesn't usually break from actually hitting the shoulder on something....it's usually when the arm itself lands wrong, and bends in a way that the collar bone itself cannot handle. So the only way to really make a piece of gear to prevent THAT would be to somehow restrict the motion of the arm, which would be uncomfortable and open up a whole OTHER mess of problems.

The problem with having pads to prevent collarbone breaks is that the collarbone doesn't usually break from actually hitting the shoulder on something....it's usually when the arm itself lands wrong, and bends in a way that the collar bone itself cannot handle. So the only way to really make a piece of gear to prevent THAT would be to somehow restrict the motion of the arm, which would be uncomfortable and open up a whole OTHER mess of problems.
I don't know about football pads--just threw that out because it is used and seems good. However, I do know about the tree jump suits for smokejumpers and USAF Pararescue. Those have a 1 inch high density foam lining the shoulders, elbows and knees, and this does dissipate the force of something hitting it (a tree limb, for instance, in tree landings via parachute).

We also taught the Parachute Landing Fall (PLF), in which the arms are tucked in to the sides, and the person rolls on the soft parts of the body. The parachutist lands striking in sequence the balls of the feet, calf, thigh, buttocks, deltoid muscles of the back, and rolling over to the other side--the head does not touch the ground in a properly executed PLF.

There is another fall, called (nicely) the PFL (for Poor Fouled-up Landing, when we say it nicely). This is the landing that normally causes injuries. The person reaches out, with a stiff leg or a stiff arm, and transmits the shock to the spine (for a stiff leg) or shoulder (for a stiff arm) and ends up potentially breaking bones in numerous places (arm, collarbone, dislocated shoulder, leg, knee, or back). If the head touches down, then there is the potential for a head injury (especially if no helmet is used).

Cycling falls are somewhat different. The recumbant cyclist simly slides on his or her side to a stop from a low distance. The upright cyclist can go over the handlebars, and needs to tuck his/her head and roll to avoid major injury. I hope this helps.

John

Thanks for the responses..I do remember that when I broke my collarbone, the kid who pushed me from behind (it was in soccer) caused me to fall and slde about 4 feet, chipping off bone and what not. So, I guess the best bet is to learn to land properly and prhaps wear normal pads.

Broken collarbones are a common injury in lacrosse. I've seen a bunch. there are shoulderpad liners that will provide a little light padding and won't be overly bulky and heavy.

http://www.laxworld.com/item.php?ww_item_no=6215&class=equipment&subclass=shoulder%20pads
that one's relatively cheap, and the bicep pads velcro off.

there are also super-light foam skeleton pads that were designed for football.
http://www.footballamerica.com/default.asp?file=shopexd&fext=asp&id=9246