Best way to treat a broken bone?

[TwoTyred]

Halfway through today's ride a dog that's always
been a nuisance finally made the leap across my
front wheel and i now have a broken Clavicle.

the ER doctor said it should heal in 6-8 weeks,
and i'm wondering what, if anything, i could
do to speed up the recovery?? Any advice on
diet etc. would be apprecitated. :(

[WarrenG]

Halfway through today's ride a dog that's always
been a nuisance finally made the leap across my
front wheel and i now have a broken Clavicle.

the ER doctor said it should heal in 6-8 weeks,
and i'm wondering what, if anything, i could
do to speed up the recovery?? Any advice on
diet etc. would be apprecitated. :(

Get to a GOOD doctor that will take x-rays every two weeks or so to make sure everything is properly aligned and healing properly. Get to a GOOD physical therapist that will show you what range of motion exercises you can do beginning around two weeks from today. Make sure to get an x-ray taken about 6 weeks from now to get the green light for a full-on resumption of your training.

If you don't do this right, the restoration of full range of motion will take far longer than it takes for the bone to heal.

Get plenty of calcium, Vitamin D, zinc, phosphorus and magnesium in your diet for the next 6+ weeks.

Ride indoors only for at least the next 4 weeks.

[Bockman]

Oh, and sue the living &^@! out of the dog's owner.

[Az B]

Sorry to hear about your crash.

As someone who has broken many bones, I'll tell you that the worst thing you can do is get impatient and think supplements will help you heal faster. Bones take time to heal. Give them the time, or you will be spending even more time getting them to reheal. Don't ask me how I know this.

Az

[roadie gal]

I second AzB. Let it heal! 6 weeks is a lot shorter than the months it could be if you rebreak it. I know from experience. I turned a 6 week injury into a 1 year injury by trying to lift weights too soon.

[sch]

Healing as noted is 6-8 weeks, but partly depends on whether the break is overlapping, which is not unusual in the clavicle or whether the bone ends remain in the anatomic position and whether there is more than two parts to the fracture.
Overlapping bone can usually be reduced over a week or so of increasing traction with the clavicle splint. Your ability to ride will partly depend on your pain tolerance but with good end to end approximation some riding out to feasible in 2-3weeks with gradually increasing time in the saddle in 3-4weeks. That has been the experience 3 local riders with clavicle fractures have had. If the fracture is unstable ( moves easily with a bit of pressure, think of an oblique fracture plane, with end pressure the bone ends slide up the angle, versus a transverse fracture where the bone ends tend to interlock) it may take a bit longer. One rider in her early 50s, about 2yrs ago broke her clavicle on July 28 and rode a century on labor day weekend.
Steve