Can anyone suggest some good ways to stay in shape for cycling with a broken collarbone. It's only been a day and I'm going nuts from just sitting around. Can I put my bike on a trainer once I get it back? How about swimming with flippers(no arms). Weight lifting(machines not free weights)? I'll have to kill myself if I lose these huge sexy legs.

trainer might work. I broke my collar bone once non bike related. And i found it hard to do much of any thing. If you can stand the pain you could ride on the trainer with no hands maybe.

I broke mine this summer, so here is my experience. If the fracture isn't a nasty one, you shouldn't worry. You will be able to sit on a trainer in 10 days, and on a real bike in 20. Full effort level after 30 days.

Unless you are an elite cyclist, you should not notice a big drop in fitness level.

If Tyler can break his and finish the Tour...I don't see the problem.

(Says the guy who's never broken his!)

Is it normal that it doesn't hurt at all? I can still feel the bone sticking out of my shoulder, but it doesn't hurt. I took 1 vicadin 8 hours ago, and I'm supposed to take 2 every 4 hours plus some other anti-inflamatory/ pain killer. I'm not trying to be tough, but the most painful thing that happened by far was when they tried to put the IV into me. maybe I should talk to a doctor about that. My other arm that got bruised up hurts much more.

I know its hard, but give yourself a little bit of time before you do anything. Seriously, sit around and watch TV, the bone needs to start mending. Also be sure to keep your arm a bit mobile or your joints will start to freeze up and that's no fun. I cracked my collar bone all the way through resulting in the half closest to my shoulder to force itself under the half closest to my neck, and in about 10 days I was out on the road on my mountain bike with little to no pain. I'm sure getting onto a trainer would take less time since you don't have to worry about quick braking and things like that.

You should be decent for weights at about that time too, just make sure you do a good job isolating your muscles or you're going to hurt yourself bad. Keep a very very light grip on the hand grips. Use lower weights than you normally would to ensure you don't wind up using your arms and forcing your shoulder into the action.

You're probably not going to want to swim, since the drag on your shoulder is going to hurt a lot and who knows when you'll have to put your arms out quickly.

Upper body is going to take a while. I'm at week 4 and I was told by my orthopedist that I can't work out my upper body for another 6 weeks. YMMV depending on how bad your break is.

The hardest part is mental. Heal quick, and for the time being take up TV and Videogames.

Here's my experience with the broken collar bone. I broke mine four years ago resulting from an endo on a MTB. Mine broke dead center on the shoulder completely through and the broken ends overlaped a bit when they came to rest. The Doc said that is the best possible break and lay of the bones for a good strong healing joint. The idea is to keep these isolated as much as possible for the bone to heal back together again. There is of course no setting a broken collar bone. Yeh I know that we have guys that finished the Tour etc, with a broken bone, but still he HAD to be in great pain. I walked my bike about five miles back up the trail and into a strip mall to call my wife to come get me. I wasn't going to be riding that day again ( It is very painfull just to move the arm initially ). As far as activity, that's up to you. I would let it rest like the doctors told you, else you could have future issues to deal with. I think as someone else here has said, 30 days should get you back to normal, but I would still be carefull to keep from popping that thing again.

Could be that you have a high pain thresh hold or you dont have as many nerves around the color bone as most do. You might want to ask the doctor about it though it could point to something wrong highly unlikly though. I know when i broke my wrist years ago it hurt very little but when i busted my collar bone it hurt extreamly bad. I say ask the doctor about it let them know your getting very little pain from it and want to know if it is somethign that you should be concerned about.

Most painful experience of my life. Overshadows all the other breaks I've ever had. Started going into shock on the side of the road, and almost again in the hospital when I tried to leave in a wheel chair.

dunno what's going on with you, but hopefully its something good!

If you have access to an eliptical, I have found that some of the workouts on those things are good for the legs and especially the glutes. Sorry about your accident and I hope you are back on the bike soon.

but more importantly, tyler AND his vanishing twin did it

Eliptical machine at the gym.
#1 life-saver (and by life-saver, I mean, it kept me from going crazy with boredom.)

I suspect your lack of pain means you were lucky. No major nerves were damaged by your broken bone ends. Personally, I'd work at maintaining that. Be 'really' careful staying fit while that thing heals.

My appointment with the doctor is tomorow. I'll ask him if I can go to the gym yet. I feel like a couch potatoe already, and I've been on my feet all day.

Geezz, you have to love the school system....

Eliptical, treadmill, - and then stairmaster after you've recovered a bit more. Use the eliptical without the moving arm handles. Use an eliptacal trainer with variable foot incline and set it for quads/glutes. If you ride on your trainer, make sure you have a stabile, step-up platform (a low table or something). You don't want to jar your upper body, and the last thing you want to do is slip and fall. If your doc is an ortho & sports medicine type, they will be able to guide your activities. If a GP, you may want to see a sports ortho doc instead. Best of luck. I fractured my left CB 3x while growing up.

I'm seeing an orthopedist(?) Orthopodiotrist(?)...........bone doctor. I've been doing some calf raises so far while hanging on to something with my good arm.

did the people in the hospital tell you how bad the bone was hurt? I'm assuming if you can walk around and don't have much pain its a hairline fracture. I know I couldn't even sit up on my own for 3-4 days.

You're going to the doctor tomorrow, why not sit around until then so you know completely what is going on?

Actually, it snapped clean in half right in the middle. I saw the x-rays. I can feel one of the peices sticking out of my shoulder.

you lucky bum! must have broken it in the exact right way to avoid hitting surrounding tissue.

Hi I broke my collar bone on July 8th in a bike accident. I compete internationally and my big race is in November in Hawaii. I was told no chance to make the race....my left clavical was displaced. I was advised to do absolutely nothing if I wanted it to heal.I am a triathlete and couldnot even swim. Pain was a bugger these things really hurt. I isolated my left shoulder and would not advise going onto the trainer for a few weeks depending on how bad the break is. Give the bone a chance to heal really heal. On september 10th I did an 80 mile bike ride for charity with nasty hills! I did way better than I have ever done. The rest from the collarbone did a LOT of good. I walked alot and went to the ocean everyday. When the brace came off I could not raise my arm. I purchased rubber tubing and did stretching to get the range of motion back. I am 99.9% back, my swim times are 6 minutes off normal, my running is good and cycling no problem. Play the mental game a few weeks allow the bone to heal and read lots of books good luck.

So what's the good word from the MD?

My appointment is at 7:30 tomorrow morning(another day off school ). I'll let you know how it goes.

Just got back frod the orthopedic doctor. They put a figure eight brace on me and took an x-ray, but the bones still aren't touching. I'm going back in 10 days for a checkup. I will need the surgery though, if it hasn't heeled at all by then. Most likely, they will need to put a plate on it, because the bones are separated too much. Thats why it doesn't hurt yet.