Training & Nutrition - Broken Collar Bone

I just broke my clavicle two weeks ago, anybody got an idea on how long I have to wait before I can start riding again? Do I really have to wait the full five or six weeks? I'm going nuts!

Well you could do worse than take Tyler Hamilton's example. He is in 6th
place in the TdF now riding with a surgically repaired clavicle frax that occurred on July 5, 03. Yours is probably not repaired, (98% are not surgically treated)
so it sort of depends on whether it is approximated or overlapping. If overlapping then the healing is slower and it tends to be more uncomfortable.
If the ortho guy has a fit about the bicycle you will have to decide. Otherwise some flat area riding (road, not ATB) might be attempted on your own initiative. The limitation will be pulling or leaning on the bars. An overlapping clavicle fx tends to be much lumpier looking than an approximated one, though hemorrhage and bruising can obscure this in a day or so. Steve

It depends on how much you care for perfect apposition of the clavicle bone.I've had athletes continue to road ride, not mountain bike as early as 2 weeks if they did not mind an ugly looking lump or some future traumatic arthritis. I dislocated mine and did not want to be laid up with a figure 8 bandage for 8 weeks and I kept riding road bikes until it healed. Now I have a knobby looking clavicle but who cares.

Thanks for the help...wish me luck.

I will have to change my name to lumpy!

One question: How do you tell bone pain from muscle pain?

It took me 1 week before I could even attempt a shower. 2 weeks before I could even think about moving my arm.
I had a complete midline spiral/overlapping fracture and man did it hurt. It was black and blue, yellow, I think it did the whole ROY G BIV thing.
My left shoulder is noticably shorter and lower with a good size protuberance midline.
5 months later I was back on my motorcycle and that same year I bought my first mountain bike.
It only bothers me sometimes when I sleep on my left shoulder.
The doctor said it will never break in that same place again. Yippee!
Not sure I'll ever experience traumatic arthritist.
I'm pretty sure you'll know the difference between muscular and bone pain.

Have a look at http://www.ortho-u.net/orthoo/51.htm This gives some info on clavicle fractures. They are classified by which part of the clavicle is fractures. 80% are in the middle third, 15% in the distal (outside) third and 5% in the proximal third. Mine was broken as the result of an encounter with a car - a comminuted fracture (i.e. broken into a number of small pieces) at the distal end. I had to wear a sling for nearly two months, and it was another month before I was allowed back on a bike - the reason given was that the bone fragments could do a lot of damage to the brachial plexus if I had another fall. It took ages for callus formation to start, and bony union was not complete until 15 months had passed. Then another five months and I finally received a compensation payout.

The only time I had a problem with pain was when I conducted Handel's 'Messiah' two months after the accident. After 2-1/2 hours my shoulder really started to hurt, and I took a rest from conducting during 'The trumpet shall sound' (the middle bit doesn't need a conductor anyhow). Otherwise recovery was fairly smooth - just the occasional twinge when the weather is going to change.

Cheers
Beaver

It is interesting tyler hamilton has a dual fracture at the distal third of his clavilcle (near the shoulder). This makes it more unstable since it is broken in two places than one. Also interesting is that he has a Danish physician who is using atmospheric ionic therapy in an attempt to speed the healing process. (Ionic therapy involves using infrasonic sound waves to provide vibrations within the body.) Some academic centers use this to speed healing bones in alot of professional athletes. However, this is not a form of therapy paid for by American insurers.... otherwise that might be a viable option.

Beaver,

Dude, what a story - sounded like you needed Hamilton's Ionic Therapy! I like the idea of soundwaves increasing the speed of recovery - I guess I will lay my shoulder on my stereo and start blasting some tunes!

2 stupid 2 quit now

Does ionic therapy really work? I mean, reading about it, it sounds like a holistic therapy approach, which is usually seen as alternative therapy, ,which most insurance companies don't seem to take seriously. :(

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
Does ionic therapy really work? I mean, reading about it, it sounds like a holistic therapy approach, which is usually seen as alternative therapy, ,which most insurance companies don't seem to take seriously. :(

Ionic therapy is in the same state of research as using sound waves to blast apart kidney stones( lithotripsy) was 30 years ago. Vibrations induce osteoblasts (the bone cells that deposit bone) to become more active. Same reason why high impact excercise prevents osteoperosis. The data is very promising in rats where scientists engaged in basic physiology research will contest. Europe has always been way ahead on snatching up innovative clinical research and applying them to human research subjects, impart due to less bureucratic red tape and less liabilty that is now invading the US clinical research arena...yes research subjects are sueing scientists despite signing wavers.)