Tell me your experiences: not horrible? ..a nightmare? ..heal slow? ..heal fast?

....I broke mine exactly 4 weeks ago tomorrow riding on (or I should say doing a "Superman" off of) the mtb. I'm healing fast - luckinly. But needless to say, I'm only riding the roadbike for another month or so!

Two years + later and I am still having problems.

collarbone break is a common cycling injury. I broke mine a while back. It will never be the same and I can feel it klunking around sometimes--which probably means arthritis later on. That's just the way it goes. Most of the time it's something they can't operate on or even put in a cast. You just wear a sling and let the sucker heal up.
They heal funny too. Sometimes it's unnoticable, other times there is a lump. It's just the way of the collarbone.

Hi, Im recovering from a broken collarbone fracture ,its been 11 weeks now,bone has fused and Ive been sent to PT to streghthen muscles and ROM(restriction of motion)exercise program.It hurts like hell but the therapist says its a must .Doc says pain might linger still for a while. My feeling is that pain will stay till bone is completely healed.
emilram.

Sounds like you may have had a lot of muscle damage which is common.

I had a comminuted collarbone along with a broken shoulder blade and a couple of ribs in 1986 at the age of 35. Comminuted means it was pulverized in the middle, about 3/4" worth. My collar bone has a 'Z' in it. But back to the question, I rode a 30 mile ride in 2 weeks, raced a TT in 3, and a crit in 5 weeks. My doctor was a sports orthopedist and wasn't too happy about it. My therapy was mainly throwing a baseball back and forth with my child.

I broke another shoulder blade 2 years later and I didn't do nearly as well. My recovery was much slower and painful.

Lastly, I still wake up in the middle of the night occasionally and feel like my shoulder and collarbone is all compressed. I kind of stretch everything back out and go back to sleep. It's neen 19 years.

Sign me up! I broke my collar bone after nailing a jaywalker in NYC's east village. sorry to hear about your painfull and slow recoveries, I was out of work for 6 weeks and I only feel it when I lay on it weird. sounds like I got off easy. It is a very common cycling injury and you kind of are in a club, one you really didn't want to join I am sure. You all will heal and be back at it sooner than it may feel now. Good luck

Twice! Second time was severe and has led to arthritis at the ripe old age of 22

Well....it's not something I'll try to do again (see posting below), but I do feel lucky in comparison to some folks.

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/69996-what-next.html

I broke mine twice, once while leaving the Bain School parking lot in Mint Hill, NC riding alongside George Hincapie. I started to talk to him, and didn't notice a speed bump as we left the parking lot. Bam, down and out. I got up, tried to shake it off and rode about 5 miles with the group before it started hurting and I turned back. I was on the bike the next week, and felt almost normal again in about 5 weeks.

Then next time was a bit more severe. Broke the right side collarbone, and two ribs. The ribs were the worst part of the healing process. The collarbone healed in an overlapping Z. I was on the trainer the third week, and back on the road the next week. Took about 9 or 10 weeks to feel normal again. Spent 4 weeks sleeping in a recliner because the ribs hurt so much trying to sit up from a bed.

One thing, each and every break is different, do what your body tells you to do.

I broke my collar bone and a few ribs almost two years ago, the same day Tyler Hamilton broke his on the first day of the Tour. I was riding my MTB and went over the handle bars and landed very hard. Had to ride 3 miles to where my cell phone could get reception. After 5 visits to the MD it became apparent it wasn't going to heal so I had a titanium plate put in to hold it together.

Before Surgery https://groups.msn.com/BicyclingForum...o&PhotoID=5060


After Surgery https://groups.msn.com/BicyclingForum...&PhotoID=10181

John00,

Damn!!!!!!! You're all screwed up!!

Yea! Those screws suprise everybody. Scared me the first time I saw the X-Ray. The longest one is about an inch and a half long.

I did mine in when I was a kid first day of summer vacation flying down the street no hands feet up on the bars stunt riding hit a parked car and flew right over it and landed on the side walk ,, at the hospital the Doc put my hand behind my back held onto the front chest area and snaped it back up ,, lol really sucked watching peeps swim and I had on the figure 8 sling all summer

You might be right about the muscles, I had a CT scan today ,its probable that Doc wants to see how muscle and ligaments are doing,since the XRays dont show nothing but bone.
so yes, thanks and take care.

Don't sweat it.....I have 10 screws and a plate in my right ankle (broke and dislocated both leg bones), but have never set off the airline metal detector!

I broke mine when I was 3. My big sister (6) threw me off of my bed.

Broke mine the first day of summer 1992. It was only a hairline fracture that occurred when a steering wheel forced a posterior dislocation. The neck side end of my left collar bone got pushed behind some other stuff- very painful. They put me out and put a clamp on the bone and maneuvered it back into position. Needless to say the break was slight compared to the other damage. Six weeks in a figure 8 brace and a lot of not doing anything made it better and there are no continuing effects..

I broke mine over 30 years ago when I was a junior in high school, when I fell over the handlebars. Four weeks later I was able to ride with the cast still on, and in six weeks, totally free of the cast, with no lasting ill effects.