Help! Broken collarbone!

[Gary B.]

I know this is a common injury. Just broke it on Saturday, clean break, Wearing a splint and a sling. I'm just looking for any helpful tips or hints to get me through this. Thanks in advance, just typing is tough.

 

[RM_guy]

Give it a full 6 weeks to heal before you ride. It will feel better after a few weeks but the new bone growth needs to harden before you put any stress on it.

Drink lot of mik too.

Good luck

 

[KDX Racer]

Broken Collarbone

I broke my right collarbone two months ago, so I have some recent knowledge for ya. DO WHAT THE DOCTOR TOLD YOU TO DO. Take it easy and DO NOT RIDE until the doctor says it's ok. Another piece of advise, start taking calcium tablets 1500mil. per day to help in the healing process. I am back riding at 90% of my speed before the break so be patient.:(

 

[DSsuper92]

I broke mine almost three weeks ago. Not as painful as people made it out to be. I was out of the sling in a week. The most pain is right after I wake up in the morning. You might have to sleep sitting up, that seemed to help me. Make sure to ice it for awhile.

Good luck and don't skimp on the Advil.

 

[Gary B.]

I've been sleeping in a chair, haven't even tried laying down yet. I just got back from the pharmacy with Tylenol #3 the emergency room prescribed. I was wondering how tight this harness needs to be. A friend said to have it as tight as I can stand it to properly position the bone.

 

[MikeT]

I think either Nikki...... Ya I think it was Nikki broke hers a while ago and said that it was very important to wear that harness all the time. PM her and ask her about it.

 

[DSsuper92]

The literature that I got from the emergency room said that a harness wasn't even necessary. I'm not saying that is correct or not. I just find it odd that doctors can disagree on such a common injury.

I displaced the bone so that may be the reason for myself not having to wear one.

I had a prescription for Percosets(sp?). That was probably the only good thing to come out of this injury.

 

[KDX Racer]

Collarbone

My doctor told me to take that "STUPID" thing off. He siad that nothing has shown that the figure 8 harness does anything. Once the bone was generally in place the harness was worthless. Ask your doctor if you really need that thing. I had a clean break that was ALMOST a compound break :eek: I was lucky.

 

[CC_RIDER]

My condolences to all of you who have suffered this.

I'm curious, what type of crash or fall led to your collarbone breaks?

 

[KTMster]

Sorry to hear about the broken collar bone. :( I broke mine a couple years ago, I did what the doctor told me to do & it doesn't bother me at all to ride these days. So, take it easy, do what the doctor tells you to do, and you too will be back on that bike again before too long. Just don't push it.

 

[DPW]

I know the feeling Gary B. , I broke my collarbone about 10 months ago. I was on the couch for about a week. Didn't really sleep to much that first week. The couch has home base. For me the pain was pretty bad the first couple of days. Watch out for the sneezes, coughs, and laughing. Take the calcium pills and relax. I wore the figure eight for whatever the doctor recommended, I think six weeks. There is still a knot or bump where the two pieces fused together. I started back into the workout schedule after about four weeks , just doing cardio. It took me about three months till I could ride again and even at the point the doctor was saying four more weeks. Everyone is different than when it comes to healing, could only be a month and half. Just get the wife or girlfriend to go rent those movies you've been wanting to see or luckily I had a whole season of motocross and supercross on tape I watched.

Take care

 

[KDX Racer]

The collarbone is the most commonly broken bone in the human body. It's no wonder since it only takes 7 to 9 pounds of pressure to break it. As they say at motorcrossactionmag.com, "there are two kinds of racers, those who broken their collarbone and those who will."

I broke mine at Mosier Valley on June 9, 2001. I was going into the first turn and was hit HARD by another rider and sent over the bike to my right. You can break your collarbone by landing directly on the shoulder or by landing on your arm with the arm raised, I did it with the arm raised. Go to motocrossactionmag.com and then to riding tips for a great article on the subject.

KDX Racer

 

[Farmer John]

Gary,
Sorry to here about your collar bone! I have broken mine 6 times, 4 left & 2 right.
My recomendations are use the F-8 for a week, then pitch it. If you have a complete fracture it will keep the bones from separating them enough to start knitting. Aside from that buy or borrow a lazy-boy for sleeping.

For ease of living dig out any slip on shoes (forget socks), pull up shorts (forget anything "button-fly"), & big baggy shirts.

Best of luck with the injury.

 

[Gary B.]

I was tooling along in 4th gear in some deep bottomless sand when ( I think) the bars got turned hard, the front wheel dug in, and I went down hard on my right shoulder. I just got a call back from the local doctor and she can't see me 'til Thurs A.M. But she did say to keep the harness on.

 

[crc934]

Help Broken Collar Bone

Our son broke his clean in the beginning of the season. It was hard to keep him down and off the bike . But we managed . The biggest problem we had was a shower with the brace. If you can obtain a spare ....get it .....showers are a must and washing the brace is definate. He did the over the shirt thing then switched to under the shirt. I think it is whatever is more comfortable for ya. He bounced back stronger than ever but he is 12, so he by all rights he should have. Remember what the T3's can do to the system .......try to get off those asap !! They prescribed vicadin for our boy and he refused them .....good ole motrin suited him just fine ! Good luck and take it easy. He was back in a long 5 weeks !

 

[weimedog]

My middle boy broke his clavical in four places three weeks ago. Also broke his hand in four places to complicate things. He's been wearing that figure eight thing because it seems to help hold the shoulder back and he's more comfortable that way. Less grind, crunch and pop where the break is. Now the bone has tacked itself together so I don't see a reason to keep wearing that thing.

Our Doctor basically told us the best thing we could do is keep him down for the first couple of weeks until that bone tacks together and then don't let him do stuff to re-injure untill another 6 weeks (8 weeks total..because of the floating pieces he will take longer).

Once the bones were pulled apart (His shoulder had collapsed almost to his neck...) he was reasonably comfortable. Seemed that Tylinol worked best.

As a parent our biggest problem is keeping a bored-out-of-his-mind teenager to stay put. Last week he decided to ride a horse. Sling, Figure eight and all. Almost had yet another disaster when one of the girls ran into the horse with her XR100 just jerking around. Looked like a rodeo. One arm with the cast (in the sling) flayling around and holding on with the other as the horse reared, turned, and took off with him! I was not amused.:scream:

 

[nikki]

I broke mine last year - clean break... and I think - despite some of the other comments made - that the figure-8 brace should be worn quite regularly until you are healed. Reason being that it holds your shoulders back and you will heal up straighter and not hunched over. If you don't wear it - it will be natural to hunch forward on the broken bone side and you will heal that way!

I wore my brace (as tight as I could stand it - we kept going tighter as I started healing some) for about 4-6 weeks. I was riding at 4 weeks and racing at 6. Maybe a little too early - but it's soooo hard to stay away :)

I healed up really straight - you can hardly tell! I got bucked off the bike at Casey (Dirtweek location) and snapped it on the frozen ground. I was wearing an old, thin, and useless chest protector. I went out and bought a REAL one (Fox Airframe - great padding in the collarbone/shoulder area) two weeks after the crash.

My fiancé also broke his in '99 (went over the bars in whoops and landed on side of shoulder) and he was not wearing a chest protector. He too got a Thor Aftershock chest protector while laid off for a few months. He did not wear his brace as much as he should have and the bones still haven't healed. When he moves his shoulder they move back and forth over and under one another. It's kinda disturbing! But he does have full strength back now (however that works). He was out for 2-2.5 months with his broken.

Question for all of you - how many people broke their collarbone while wearing a full-sized chest protector?

 

[Neil Wig]

Well, I'm 36, and broke my collar bone May 10 of this year. The fracture was a compression type break, with floaters, and jaged edges. The emergency room doctor, and my medic both agreed that the F8 brace was cruel and unusual punishment, and generally not required, IF you have good posture. If you tend to hunch over, wear the brace, it will prevent that. The reason they didn't like the brace is because when you move the good arm, the bad arm is disturbed. My collar bone only crunched and ground away for a couple days. I slept on the couch, with a towel rolled axially allong my spine to keep my shoulders back. The down side is that my collar bone is vertically and horizontally misalligned. I have about a 1/2" step, with a sharp point. The outer part of the clavical is lower than the inner section. The bone is healing nicely, with a big knot of calcium building above, below and beside the original bone. Maybe the F8 brace would have helped with alignment, maybe not. My doctor says not. It will be strong when it heals, but it is going to take time. I think it is strong enough to get back onto my bike, but I'm going to take the rest of the summer off. My sandrail is getting a lot more use this year.

 

[DSsuper92]

I was wearing my Thor Aftershock. I cased a double and went right over the bars. I'm not so sure that chest protectors, at least MX type ones, really help that much. I'm still going to wear one but just because I feel safer. I bruised my sternum during the accident and that hurt a lot worse than the broken collarbone did.

Dave

 

[DPW]

Originally posted by nikki
Question for all of you - how many people broke their collarbone while wearing a full-sized chest protector?

I wasn't when I broke my collarbone, but my friend was wearing a full chest protector when he broke his right than left collarbone.

 

[TrailRider32]

be careful

don't do anything stupid to press your luck before it is 100%!! It is a very fragile bone!

 

[crc934]

broken collarbone (chest protectors)

When our son broke his collar bone ...his chest protector and his Neck Pro Tech saved him . He was fortunate to only have the collarbone brake !! When he broke his it was a total fluke thing. He hooked a tire on the track ....which caused him to case a double.......when he went down ..he stood up ...looked down for his bike ...and from the spectators veiw we could see his bike come shooting up into the air......about the time he was looking for it to pick it up ...it came down on him full force out of the sky!! Not only did it snap his collarbone ...but it destroyed a Shoei VFX -R helmet ....a Vortex triple clamp snapped ....and we are sure was the beginning of the busted frame at the steering stem on his '00 CR 125 !!! So I beleive his gear definately played a huge role in the prevention of a permanent injuy!!

 

[Shin ichi]

broke mine while endoing? on a road bicycle!

the bike just breaks my ribs.:scream:

if you only have the old style sling, get yourself a Cross Your Back Bra
(figure 8). if only for a couple of weeks to set the bone end-to-end instead of an overlap.

percocet=good

 

[weimedog]

Recognize that most clavicle injuries are caused from landing hard shoulder first. Now and then it is caused buy a frontal impact, as was the case with our son. The motorcycle landed on top of him after an end-over end extended crash. He was wearing a chest protector but it didn't save him from a comminuted 4 piece fx. Without the CP it may have been worse:scream: In any case, if you land with shoulder planted, a CP probably won't save you from a clavicle fx or ac separation. I see plenty of these, usually from kids playing supercross. Just an extra 2 cents from weimedog's wife. :think

 

[JohninKY]

I broke mine at Orlando MX park when my front end washed out in a corner. I wasn't going very fast and I was wearing a full chest protector. It was a compression break angulated and dislocated. I wore the F8 brace because it seemed like the right thing to do. The doctor said it wouldn't make any difference. I found I could go riding after a month, but it was uncomfortable sleeping for much longer.