# Broken Collarbone - How to minimize atrophy of cycling muscles?



## Number9 (Nov 28, 2004)

I recall that there are a few doctors on this board. Broke my collarbone and generally bruised muscles around the right shoulder, ribs, etc. So a lot of pain other than just the broken collarbone. Was wondering if it would be OK to ride a trainer without adversely affecting the bone healing (clean snap with some spacial separation) and if so, starting when? Good news - learned to type one-handed. Bad news, continual pain ranging from moderate to severe.

BTW, this was a moto accident and not cycling. Funny, I expected an injury of this type to happen to me at the velodrome and not while simply puttering around at low speed on a motorcycle!

P.S. Pain pills are your friend!


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## I am The Edge (Jul 27, 2004)

you're going to atrophy, there isn't anything you can do about it. the body has suffered an injury and the defense mechanisms kick in to help itself repair the injury.

the good news is the muscles have "memory" and you'll be able to get them back. don't worry about it and continue your cardio if you can stand the pain. comply with your doctor's recommendations, though. he is smarter than us.  

my moto accidents were always at low, "puttering around" speeds, too.  nothing happend to me when i went 180mph but under 30....jeeze.


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## ashpelham (Jan 19, 2006)

Having broken my collarbone back on December 30, and now fully riding and training again, I consider myself to be a good resource as for advice on what to look for with this injury.

I was off the bike for 2 weeks, to kind of rest the soreness and get over the general pissed off feeling. 

Then I began riding the trainer very easy again right after that. three times per week for 2 weeks. Then I had some pretty numbing pain begin to kick in and that made it hard to ride or sit in one position for more than 30-35 minutes at a time. Now, I'm in week 8, and feeling much better. I even got out for a 4 hour mountain bike ride on Sunday, which left me with a pretty sore elbow, from over compensating those muscles holding on to the bars. At 6 weeks, depending on severity, you should try to do some LIGHT lifting at the gym, as you are going to lose some strength. Cycling-wise, I'm doing intervals now with no shoulder discomfort, but just a general "out-of-shape" slob feeling...

Of course, I could just be shooting the sh*%.....


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## Number9 (Nov 28, 2004)

Thanks for the info - it's encouraging and I can use all the good news I can get. Think I'll just take it easy until after the bone fuses (apparently starting around week 3), then restart with the trainer at low resistance to maintain some semblance of "supplesse" until I'm able to ride the track again. Hope your respective recoveries go/went well.


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

Just sit up and spin. You will be forced to spin very smoothly in order not to cause pain.


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## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*right away*



Number9 said:


> Thanks for the info - it's encouraging and I can use all the good news I can get. Think I'll just take it easy until after the bone fuses (apparently starting around week 3), then restart with the trainer at low resistance to maintain some semblance of "supplesse" until I'm able to ride the track again. Hope your respective recoveries go/went well.


I've done this with a separated shoulder, with surgery, one time, and a broken collar bone another. I doubt any doctor would be ok with this, but I started on the trainer right away. Put your arm in a sling and ride. No big deal. Then, I rode a mountain bike on the road for a couple of weeks, with full suspension and fat tires, being careful to only lightly rest the affected arm on the handlebars. I then rode the Climb to Kaiser, a local 155 mile event with 13,500' feet of climbing, 8 weeks after the break. I felt fully strong well before that.

Now, what's most important is that you don't injure the shoulder in the few months after the break. Not only might it delay healing, but it could be life threatening. I was told that, apparently, those little sharp bones are close to some important arteries. So, be very careful. Don't do group rides, off road, or take any undue risks. Don't even hit potholes or try to jump anything. Even hitting a rough expansion joint when you start putting weight on that hand can hurt pretty bad. Did I mention be careful?


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## HSalas (Sep 23, 2005)

*Been there myself, too...*

As a doc and an owner of a fractured collarbone, I agree with the general consensus of the responses so far. Take a little time (2-3 weeks) off to let the fracture knit together a bit, then get on the trainer. The increased blood flow will help healing. And yes, be very very careful when you get back outside. But after a couple of months, you should be pretty much back to normal.

My story: In August '03, I was the loser in a bike vs. pickup crash. I was going straight, he was going the other way and turned left into a driveway as I was going past. No signal, no stopping. Fortunately, he did slow to make the turn, but he hit me on the left leg and basically clipped the bike out from underneath me. I didn't have time to reach out with my left arm and so landed flush on my left shoulder. Not much displacement of the fracture, though.

I was in a sling for a couple of weeks, then started on the trainer. By mid-October, I was back on the roads for a bit before the weather changed. But I had also taken up running and did a 5K in December with no pain. But I do get a bit of shoulder discomfort from time to time, particularly when the weather is extremely cold, even three years later. 

I did get another xray of the collarbone after about a year and it had healed well, except for a slight misalignment leaving a small bump, which actually is more prominent after getting back into shape and losing about 25 pounds (less body fat).


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*I'm with these guys*



MR_GRUMPY said:


> Just sit up and spin. You will be forced to spin very smoothly in order not to cause pain.


I agree that if you have a trainer, get back on it as soon as you can. The added blood flow from the exercise will speed the healing and get you feeling better much faster than sitting around for 2-3 weeks. I speak from (way to much) experience. The pain will be significant for a week, and then all of a sudden you'll realize that it doesn't hurt any more. As long as you are reasonably careful and don't bang things around, there's little risk from riding one-handed with your arm in a sling or sitting up.


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

*Me too.*

In 2003, I crashed and broke my right shoulder at the beginning of July. Within three weeks, I was riding on the indoor trainer almost every day and rode a century at the beginning of September. At the beginning, I was riding with my arm in a sling and sitting fairly upright. My doctor told me to stay off of the roads for 2-3 months but said that he knew that I probably would cheat (he rides, too). He told me just to be sure not to fall. Well, I was careful, extremely careful, when I was riding outside. But, on the September century I fell flat on my @ss when I was WALKING at a rest stop and slipped on a wet flagstone walkway. Fortunately, I did not hit my shoulder when I hit the ground.

I don't know if it was the increased blood flow, or the psychological lift that I got from being on the bike (even if it was clamped into a trainer), but my recovery was faster than my doctor predicted.


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## collarboneclub (Aug 22, 2006)

it also depend on the break. a simple break is not going to put you off the bike for too long. a couple of weeks if you are careful. a more involved break(mine was in 6 pieces) it took 4 weeks until i was racing bmx again but it was obvious that the bone was flexing. it was about a year until i could no longer feel the bone flexing under load. as an aside, i did not have a sports medicine doctor and that was a problem. find one
CBC


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## Number9 (Nov 28, 2004)

Surprised that this is such a common injury - but thanks for all the great, empirically based advice. My main limiter right now is pain around the ribs, so I can't breath deeply - when this improves, I'll try the trainer again. Stupid question: best pain-free technique to air up tires? Mine have latex tubes so I have to air up pretty much every day. Have an old, unstable silca floor pump, and that looks hard to do one-handed when one's entire upper right hand quadrant of the torso hurts from any high force muscle application on either side of the torso... (Possibly that may resolve itself in a week.)


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## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*compressor?*



Number9 said:


> Stupid question: best pain-free technique to air up tires? Mine have latex tubes so I have to air up pretty much every day. Have an old, unstable silca floor pump, and that looks hard to do one-handed when one's entire upper right hand quadrant of the torso hurts from any high force muscle application on either side of the torso... (Possibly that may resolve itself in a week.)


Yes, when I've crashed, the ribs hurt a lot more than the shoulder. Deep breathing, coughing, sneezing, laughing, all hurt. 

I think I just used a large floor pump. But, those small car tire compressors are pretty cheap, and you could do it with one hand. You'll need some kind of presta/schrader valve adapter, though.


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## bluebomberx (Dec 12, 2006)

I know your pain. I broke my right collar bone on 2/6 and taking care of myself for the next week and a half was hopeless. The next day, I went to the gym with a buddy so I could ride a recumbant stationary - didn't have any problems. Around the ninth or tenth day, I was able to take care of all of my hygiene and clothing with minor discomfort. On the first day of the second week, I put my MTB in the trainer and rode it for 30 minutes at a moderate level. My injured shoulder hurt a bit more the next day so I laid off again. I spent some time laying around the house for the rest of the week. I'm on the third day of week three and I rode a couple of my mountain bikes around the block at a snail's pace this afternoon. My shoulder felt stiff after a few minutes. It's warmed up to the high 60's and low 70's this week and cabin fever has taken it's toll. I've been hiking quite a bit. I can't handle sitting on the trainer when it's nice out. I guess I can put the trainer outside to improve the illusion


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## SuperSlow (Feb 11, 2005)

I ve had 3 broken c bones (ranging from compound fractures to minor breaks) whatever you do dont wear a sling. If you can just wear the figure 8 brace you will be much better off. Having to support your arm will passively work out your shoulder.


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## bill (Feb 5, 2004)

I don't think that they do the figure-8 braces anymore, do they? Only for kids or something?
I had my arm in a sling for too damn long under the mistaken impression that moving the arm will slow the healing or something. The sling is for comfort only, and if you don't use the arm, it will freeze up. At about six weeks out, I saw a friend who's a doctor who said, what the hell are you doing with that thing take it off and work that arm! And it hurt, probably more than if I had worked it all along. Apparently, the location of the break and the ligaments determine whether the bones ever will fuse on their own or if you need surgery. If you don't need surgery, then you really don't need to have any slings or anything, just do what you need to do for comfort.


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## bluebomberx (Dec 12, 2006)

I was given a figure-eight brace for mine last month. Here is an x-ray of my collar bone one week after again at five weeks this past Monday morning. I took my road bike out of the neighborhood for the first time since the crash. I stayed out of the big ring except for one downhill. It was nice to be out, but I was a bit skittish in the corners and in traffic though.


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## bauerb (Jan 18, 2006)

years ago I suffered compression fractures to 3 lumbar vertibrae(skied off a cliff..on purpose). I bought my first mag trainer and rode that thing to the bearings disintegrated(literaly). anyway, apart from some disconcerting leg numbness due to nerve damage, I emerged from my 4 month "Convelescence" in better shape than ever. a year later when I shattered by elbow mtb biking, I would due alot of running with my cast. a note of caution - I had pins that extruded through the skin and the sweat inside the cast caused an infection. also the stress on the skin around the skin staples(from theoepration) cause the scar to heal big and ugly. the point is, exercise is possible for sure, just be aware that anything short of complete immobiliation can have an impact on teh healing


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## bill (Feb 5, 2004)

collarbones are sort of different. unless the broken pieces are surgically reduced (joined), the only thing holding them in proximity are your ligaments.  moving them around doesn't change a thing according to the docs -- the bone grows from the broken ends, so that the pieces grow to meet each other and then fill in. maintaining their alignment by use of a brace or a figure-8 is neither helpful nor, apparently, possible. 
I think that it's different for very young bones, though I'm not sure why.


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## bluebomberx (Dec 12, 2006)

Collar bones have been broken and treated long before the invention of figure-8 straps at slings. My doctor said it was only to keep good posture during the healing process. I have decent posture on my own, so I only wore the brace for the first week and a half because it was causing some other issues with swelling in my armpit.


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## SuperSlow (Feb 11, 2005)

the figure 8 helps aid posture while sleeping etc. It also helps with daily activities while the bone is fusing. It really depends on the severty of the injury, I have had one that I coudl not leave the couch and another I was back riding 5 days later.


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