Hi all, last Sunday I crashed while riding (outdoor) and I broke my collarbone and bruised some ribs… The pain around the collarbone is decreasing quite quickly, so I figured I could probably start doing some easy indoor rides within a couple of days (with one hand on the handlebar).
I am curious if anyone here has soem experience with this, and if you would have any tips for me. All help would be appreciated!
Cheers,
Max
What does your doctor have to say? My key question is: did you get a concussion? Even with a helmet, they are common. If you did, DO NOT workout until you’ve recovered.
You may be interested in reading this topic:
Heal well and quickly!
Rob
@AkaPete No I did not get a concussion. They checked for this in the hostpital.
@RServranckx thanks for sharing the link! Really helpful and hopeful 
I have to come back to the hospital this Monday for another X-ray and general check-up, so I guess I will take it easy until then and then hope to resume light training on the kickr. I was fortunate enough to avoid any injuries to the legs so I can still walk normally and I expect easy pedalling will also be fine. Look forward to riding again soon
Glad to hear that you didn’t get a concussion. I broke my collar bone about 10 years ago. I was a mess. In addition to breaking my clavicle into three pieces (which required a surgical repair), I had a serious concussion, a hairline crack in my pelvis and soft tissue injuries in my other shoulder. I couldn’t go back to my office for 6 weeks and got headaches from thinking hard for more than 5 minutes. Concussions really emphasize how much simple thinking is a metabolically intense activity! Then my surgeon decided to use a temporary pin to stabilize my collarbone instead of a permanent plate. I don’t question the decision, but it meant that I had the head of a bolt pressing under my skin behind my shoulder for 6 or 8 weeks before it got removed. That was horrible. While I should have been more active than a was (once my concussion healed), I was severely limited for several months. Glad your injury wasn’t as bad.
Here’s a pic of the pin they used. The end with nut (bottom) is what was pressing under my skin. Really shows how much orthopaedics is just carpentry with blood. Bone screws are threaded pretty much the same way as wood screws.
I broke my collarbone in a group crash in a crit. I consulted with three sports medicine ortho docs. The consensus was I could ride as long as the pain was OK and I didn’t crash again. I had no surgery and was doing group rides 10 days later.
Sports medicine docs know to prioritize your sport and fitness whereas typical docs will say take 6-8 weeks off.
I imagine you didn’t go out that morning saying “today looks like a great day for a crash!” That seems like a hard thing to assure.
It was road riding and a calculated risk. Just rode a bit more conservatively. As luck would have it, I did crash, but landed on my other side so no harm done.
As one who fell while hiking and fractured not only my collarbone, but six ribs (some in multiple places) here’s my take. You will stop feeling major pain in about a week to ten days. That doesn’t mean jump on the bike and start riding though. What you need to do now is heal. Anything that disturbs the juncture will only delay it. I dropped something and jumped. That one action delayed my healing by a week. So, If you can ride without putting ANY pressure on the bone, go for it. Getting on and off the bike was the worst for me. Leaning down and getting a drink was second. My advice is to do some strength training for your legs and some yoga to stay strong (yes, you can do the travel yoga, just don’t try to lift your affected arm). Then get back on the bike and take it real easy. Lastly, you can try other activities. In my case, I walked distances…
Sorry to hear about your crash. Broke mine last summer. Took surgery and a long time in recovery and PT but I’m back to full health. I gather the most important thing right now for you is to NOT DAMAGE IT anymore. That could mean not falling, not letting other people grab you or bump into you, or not turning over in your sleep (my big mistake). Keep it immobilized and protected.
Definitely err on the side of caution and listen to the docs. Getting on and off the trainer is probably the biggest risk. Your body is in intense recovery mode so give it the proper rest and recovery. Good episode on the knowledge podcast on coming back from injury, def recommend listening to that one.
Best wishes on a speedy recovery.
I wish that episode was available when I broke mine. Add that you have never recovered like you are recovering now. If you have an external recovery app (like a Whoop or Heart Rate Variability) then use and abuse it.
From another post of mine:
One more thing to add. While I agree with the consensus to avoid the bike for a little bit, you do need to move your shoulder or it will freeze up. There are a bunch of super low intensity exercises to keep your should moving after a broken collarbone. The one I remember is leaning over with your arm hanging down and just letting it swing in ever widening circles. My failure to do these early enough (due to misunderstanding what my doc told me) added weeks to my recovery and required more intensive PT than I should have needed.
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and experiences! This is really helpful. It’s been 5 days now since the crash and the pain is going away much faster than I had expected and mobility is also getting better every day, so I am way less depressed than a couple of days ago
Also managed to do Recovery Spin this morning without any problems and planning to ride a lot of the Inspiration videos in the coming weeks.
As others have said, it’s kind of highly personal as to what you can do. I broke mine summer 2020 and got a couple of nifty plates out of the deal. 3 weeks after the surgery I was back on the bike on the trainer at the guidance of my doctor (absolute horror from my wife) and I pushed the mobility/self PT on myself pretty hard from the beginning which I felt had a lot to do with it. At 6 weeks I was back on the road, again much to the horror of the love of my life.
