broken collarbone-success stories please!

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Prince33Sp4rkle

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for those i dont *know* on FB- i am out of action with a bust collarbone :(

i am already going mad and want to be sorted asap, seeing the consultant tues and if they wont plate it i will be going private and pushing them to do it as i cannot afford in terms of money, or riding, to be out for months and months!

asking in here as us competing lot are tough old gits-how long did it take you to get back up and running? be truthful please im not going to lecture anyone for disregarding docs orders!

i did it sun,am in a figure of 8 support and not in much pain, i can bandage legs and get a bridle on 1 handed already with no increase in pain.

would like to think i would be back lunging in a couple of weeks and riding quiet horses 6 weeks post plating?!
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
for those i dont *know* on FB- i am out of action with a bust collarbone :(

i am already going mad and want to be sorted asap, seeing the consultant tues and if they wont plate it i will be going private and pushing them to do it as i cannot afford in terms of money, or riding, to be out for months and months!

asking in here as us competing lot are tough old gits-how long did it take you to get back up and running? be truthful please im not going to lecture anyone for disregarding docs orders!

i did it sun,am in a figure of 8 support and not in much pain, i can bandage legs and get a bridle on 1 handed already with no increase in pain.

would like to think i would be back lunging in a couple of weeks and riding quiet horses 6 weeks post plating?!
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Take heart! Nicola Wilson broke hers on the 18th Feb, had surgery on the 26th and completed Badminton and Kentucky (rather well!) ;-) Horsey birds are tough! (She did have some help from a cryotherapy chamber though.....)
 
Sorry to hear of your injury but I think you are being very pessimistic. I was back competing (eventing) within 6 weeks and jump jockeys consider 3 weeks plenty for a collar bone. I would personally be riding before I felt happy to lunge.
 
JAMESTOWN said:
Sorry to hear of your injury but I think you are being very pessimistic. I was back competing (eventing) within 6 weeks and jump jockeys consider 3 weeks plenty for a collar bone. I would personally be riding before I felt happy to lunge.
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yes!

thank you! more like this please. i only say lunging before riding as i have a 3yo who needs to keep doing a bit (albeit i now have someone else to do the actual sitting on him rather than risk myself again) but every other horse i would ride would be safe and sane :)

would sitting in a freezer work the same lol?!

eta- was yours plated?
 
A 'straightforward' bust collar bone normally heals rapidly and well. Are there any complications with yours that could slow down the healing process?

Agreed with the above poster that you may be fit to ride a while before it would be wise to lunge, especially if it's a young or unpredictable horse.
 
Get yourself an arc equine unit and you'll be back out with the best of them inside the 6 week time frame. Seriously. My friend bust hers not 1 week after the arrival of her new horse. She had an AE lying around from her previous horse - mended his check ligament in extra quick time only for him to get colic very badly 6 months later, sadly the surgery failed. Anyway, she used it with astonishing results. Back on him 4 weeks later! There are quite a few on here who have used it on themselves to good effect.
 
Not me but have known a few eventers with broken collar bone (most common riding injury apparently). Most back competing within 6 weeks but it does depend on the break and whether surgery required. Would also add having seen subsequent x rays of one who decide to "wait and see" and not opt for the surgery believing it would be quicker but who is still suffering months later ..I would opt for the surgery if recommended. Good luck!
 
how badly is it broken?

I broke mine last summer, 3 weeks on i was mucking out and riding again (little sore though) within about 5 i felt fine and was back to full fitness.

My boyfriend broke his and had it plated and it took way longer to heal than mine and was much more painful
 
it was displaced but they say if supported should knit and i can feel the figure of 8 holding it together most of the time-its broken near where it joins the shoulder.

i would prefer it was plated however to give absolute stability and will be pushing for that but plated or not the arc can only help i assume?
 
According to my sports injury physio sister, figure of 8 bandages are no longer used as it is better to get one of those really supportive slings including a strap that goes round your waist. I initially didn't support my elbow enough so it allowed my shoulder to drop open, and as it was quite displaced anyway, it wasn't remotely close to healing when it was first reviewed. I know it is frustrating, but try to avoid doing too much or you will delay everything........ plating it won't speed up the recovery time, it will just make it more stable if you are getting a lot of movement through it. However falling off onto it once it is plated and the bones haven't properly knit together can leave you in a bigger mess as it makes it very difficult for them to do further repairs.
 
I broke mine about 7yrs ago and ripped and tore all the muscles across my chest and back/shoulder at the same time, fractured a few ribs too-was so painful to breathe,drive and move for about 10 days then although painful I was able to get on with stuff. When they xrayed they told me the collar bone had been broken twice before-I remember falling and hurting in that area but not enough to stop riding or working-I bounced back when I was younger.
you wont be out of the game for months and as far as I am aware they rarely operate on the collar bone unless it is severely out of alinement
 
For anyone curious...

photo_zpsprprsukj.jpg
 
I'm very surprised they didn't plate straight away given the amount of displacement.

Having said that, if you have an op, you might be out for longer than if you let it heal naturally, and having something plated doesn't always mean a miraculous recovery. I ended up getting a wrist plate taken out again, much sooner than planned (at the 6 month point, rather than the 18 month point) as I was having horrendous nerve pain from where the plate was situated.

Hope you heal up quick :)
 
thanks nic :)

it does look less euuuuuw already, still pretty grim but not so much of a second shoulder as it was on sun night!!!!!!

feels a lot more stable in the figure of 8 support, i can only occasionally feel a twinge of movement (bleurgh).

i guess tues repeat x rays will reveal more, i am however itching to get back to work(horsey work) like yesterday, sigh.
 
My son snapped (But not displaced) his collarbone a week before my wedding, he didn't move out of bed for 2 days, he could barely move with pain bless him, within a week he was back to his usual self, 2 weeks trying to do things that he shouldn't have, he was well and truly back to himself within 3 weeks, and apart from a bump where the break was, by week 4 you wouldn't have known he had done anything, I can only begin to imagine the pain, but always (depending on the break) heard they heal really well without surgery
 
Broke mine of Christmas Eve, of all days, hunting. I was in a figure of 8 which I requested as I was told this was the best thing to be in. I found a sling painful especially putting it in and out and the weight of it hanging on your neck. I had physio after two weeks and was back riding after 4 weeks and hunting after 5 weeks.

A friend of mine broke his and it looked at bit like yours and he had his plated!!, but I think it takes longer to come back from a plating, as you have to have the stitches out etc... and before that you can't start the physio.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
so it sounds like, if its moved back to where it should be, dont plate it.

if it hasnt moved by tues, kick them up the ass to plate it PDQ!
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yes! And it actually doesn't look too displaced, so providing you are keeping it still, and your shoulder pushed up to where it ought to be there is a good chance it will knit together. Worst scenario is them making you wait longer to see if it heals, then deciding 8 weeks later it is not going to, and then having to plate it........... broke mine at the end of March, went back after 2 weeks was told to put it in a sling and they would review again in 6 weeks, then they "lost me" on the system and the earliest date they could give me to see how it was getting on was 6 July!!! I then went to a different hospital/health trust and they quickly decided that it needing plating and cracked on, but it was a miserable 10 weeks of not being able to do everything I wanted to and god knows when my shoulder will be back to normal as it has been out of action for so long. Fingers crossed you will be back in no time, but you may have to be persistent in pushing for the operation or at least getting a further review date very quickly
 
Deffo don't wear a crappy NHS sling. Will see if I can retrieve the links my sister sent me. Don't think it was a Donjoy as that is my knee brace...... but you'd think I wouldn't forget the name of the company that made min as I wore the fricking thing night & day for months........ I would like to know who produced the Velcro though as it was industrial strength and needed about 3 people to prise it apart once it was stuck together - no chance of me sneakily undoing it and escaping from it!
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
for those i dont *know* on FB- i am out of action with a bust collarbone :(

i am already going mad and want to be sorted asap, seeing the consultant tues and if they wont plate it i will be going private and pushing them to do it as i cannot afford in terms of money, or riding, to be out for months and months!

asking in here as us competing lot are tough old gits-how long did it take you to get back up and running? be truthful please im not going to lecture anyone for disregarding docs orders!

i did it sun,am in a figure of 8 support and not in much pain, i can bandage legs and get a bridle on 1 handed already with no increase in pain.

would like to think i would be back lunging in a couple of weeks and riding quiet horses 6 weeks post plating?!
Click to expand...

I broke shoulder blade at the same time and now have a disability to the point everything on that side dropped so straps etc fall off, I guess with just collar bone it should return to normal. mine did not as I still have a lump where the bones fused one on top of the other.
 
push for surgery!
i broke mine in two, and has healed one on top of the other, so a huge lump and constant niggly pain. they didnt operate on mine ;(
i was riding 3 weeks after but then sold my horse and didnt ride for a couple for weeks

hope you get better soon x
 
Mine was displaced, lump about 1.5" where the bones were sitting on each other... NHS decided they would do the whole lets wait and see how it goes, 8 weeks later it hadn't fused in the slightest and I could still feel it moving, they then decided on surgery so another 8 weeks recovery, plus physio etc on top of that...was pretty long and drawn out, I didn't have a horse at the time so I didn't push to do anything I was told not to in honesty..I would definitely get extra physio though, I had a couple of spaced out sessions but it didn't do enough and I ended up very lopsided, very little strength that side.
I think the surgery recovery is probably slower, so if there is fusing early on fingers crossed you will have an easy heal!
 
I broke mine back in July 2013 mid way through the eventing season. The NHS refused to plate it and after months of nothing happening, and endless xrays and CT scans, they ended up just removing me from the fractures clinic all together in the March and it still hadn't healed. They also discovered after months of telling me I had frozen shoulder, that I had actually broken my shoulder and shoulder blade as well. Was not a happy bunny!
I gave up listening to the doctors by October 2013 so started to compete again in the Autumn as I didn't want my horse just standing around.
I still have problems with it now. I cant lie on my left side due to pain and it still aches a lot.
I find riding is okay, although it is uncomfortable to wear a body protector as it pushes down on the bone and I find my left shoulder hunches forwards so have to make a real effort to push it back.
I use sports tape which has been brilliant since day 1 of breaking my collar bone as it provided brilliant support without having to use the horrid sling.
 
I broke mine almost identically to yours, PS, when I was 16( far too many years ago) and they put me in a figure of 8 bandage. I HATED the damn thing because it was so hot and itchy, but I was riding quiet horses in less than 2 weeks, still wearing the bandage (no my mum didn't know!). ThIt has never caused me problems since, though I do have an impressive boney lump!
 
http://www.injuredjockeys.co.uk/jack-berry-house.asp

This is where the jockeys go and have been known to get back riding in two to three weeks.......depends on nature of fracture though and also your tolerance of pain/determination and commitment to the physio. Yes, it's out of your area but may be worth decamping for 2-3 weeks. At the very least I would go there to get a second opinion from medical staff that understand and know about horses/riders etc.

I used them years ago and they were brilliant.

PS Sorry, it was Oaksey house in Lambourn I used, not the new one above that I poste a link to, but you can get to Oaksey from that one.
 
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