Broken Collarbone Experience - Return to Golf

[GolfCsty]

TLDR; This is a journal of my recovery from a broken collarbone and attempt to return to golf within 11 weeks of injury. 
 

I recently broke my collarbone. Right shoulder and right handed golfer. I’m a good player and I have an upcoming tournament which will be exactly 11 weeks from date of injury. Even if I make it I know I won’t be a 100% but I’ve been looking forward to this for months and will go if my game is at least serviceable. Regardless of outcome it’ll be an amazing experience. 
 

I’ve been sitting around now for two weeks with nothing to do but go down Google rabbit holes trying to get information or reassure myself I have a chance of pulling this off. Interwebs consensus is 6-12 weeks for healing but lots of horror stories talking of much longer recovery times. Any golf specific threads I’ve found regarding golf and collarbone injuries don’t instill a ton of confidence but everyone’s situation is different. I even posted a question in Instruction section and, not surpisingly, I’ve had no responses. 
 

This thing is all occupying in my mind mind these days and there’s no detailed experiences of broken clavicle and returning to golf. I figured it would be mentally healthy for me to talk about and document my experience and maybe this will help anyone in the future going through the same thing. 
 

I’ll likely just edit/update this post as I go instead of a bunch of individual posts. 
 

Since age and health are big factors in healing I’ll start by saying I’m in my early 40s, ate healthy, and exercised a lot all through my 30s and early 40s up until COVID. I’ve let COVID be an excuse to let all my good habits fall to the wayside. I don’t drink and don’t smoke. Overall I’d say I’m still in pretty good shape for my age just not the great shape I considered myself a year ago. 
 

March 13th: I was out road cycling (decided it was finally time to get off my butt after a year) pedaling aggressively through a right hand turn, clipped the right pedal on pavement, and down I went. I knew I was hurt and in trouble but luckily I wasn’t far from home and adrenaline allowed me to dust myself off and get home and showered to clean out road rash. By time I was showered I knew my collarbone was broke. Pain and inflammation were really starting to ramp up and I could feel the bone moving. Trip to ER confirmed it that evening. ER doc said the break wasn’t displaced and I should be able to start returning to activity within about 4 weeks. Sucked to be busted but I thought that was pretty good news all else considered. Slapped me in a sling and sent me on my way. I’m thinking maybe I’d even be able to make the boys trip to Myrtle in the first week of May. 
 

March 15th: Started working to schedule an ortho follow up and dug into the discharge papers from the ER and those noted the break is displaced. I already had done enough Googling to know this means a 4 week return is unlikely and I won’t be playing golf in Myrtle. Not sure why the ER doc said it wasn’t displaced. 
 

March 17th: First Ortho appointment. By this time I’m miserable. This thing hurts like hell, sleeping really sucks, and the sling I had just wasn’t working. No matter how much I tightened it I could not relax my elbow into the sling without feeling the bone pull apart and experiencing searing pain. More x-rays at office. This is first set I get to look at. Front on view doesn’t look bad and is probably why ER said not displaced. But a lower view (from about waist high looking up at an angle) shows the displacement clearly. It’s still not terrible compared to pics I’ve seen online. The bones are still touching and ortho decision is for conservative treatment (no surgery). I asked if golf by end of May was possible and she raised her eyebrows with that look on her face of “is that a serious question”. Once she realized I was serious she said it’s possible but it’s gonna hurt. At this point I’m think  as long as I’m not risking injuring it further I’ll play through the pain.  

March 18th: My mom, who had been vaccinated and bought tickets to visit a few weeks prior, arrives. To this point my wife has been amazing and taking care of me. I can’t imagine how difficult this would be if I were a bachelor. However, even though I’m a grown man, having mom’s care and cooking for a few days is quite fortunate and much appreciated. Plus it gave my wife a break too. The best thing mom did was talk me into buying a recliner. Had my brother go to the store, pick it up, and deliver it that day. I highly advise this for anyone going through this. It’s just impossible to get truly comfortable on a bed. The recliner gets you into a stable inclined position and pillows can be stuffed down the side of the injured shoulder to cradle the arm. I slept like a baby that night. 
 

March 24th: 2nd ortho appointment. Same clinic different doc. More x-rays. By this time pain is subsiding quite a bit but still can’t relax my elbow into the sling without feeling the bones pull apart. No change in the new X-rays from previous week and no visible healing yet but doc says that’s to be expected. I complained about my sling again and then she noticed I was carrying my right shoulder really high. She asked if this was how I’d taken all my X-rays and that answer was yes. The side note here is that for all the X-rays up to this point each tech asked if I had a sling on, I’d say yes, they’d ask if I could take it off and let my arm hang, I’d say yes (even though I knew it would hurt), they’d think for a moment and then say nevermind and do the X-ray. Back to story... doc ordered more X-rays to be taken with my sling off and shoulder in relaxed position. These X-rays showed more displacement, although still not terrible compared to what I’ve seen online, and now doc says I’m borderline for surgery but still recommends conservative treatment and wait and see. Surgery may be necessary if it doesn’t heal well or at all. I ask if surgery now can get me back to golf by end of May? I get the same “are you serious?” look! She explains surgery would get me use of my arm quicker but, assuming the shoulder heals without surgery, the timelines for returning to full activity are the same. I decide to trust the doc and not push the issue. Her comments in regards to me playing are slightly more promising. She’s asks to see me in two more weeks. That’ll be 3.5 weeks post injury. She says that if she sees enough healing at that point it’s likely I can be out of sling at 6 weeks from date of injury. That would leave me 5 for rehab prior to tournament. If all falls into place and I’m smart but aggressive with the rehab I believe I can get to a serviceable swing by then. I hope I’m not too naive. However, seeing my collarbone will be shorter because of the displacement I’m starting to not only worry about healing in time for tournament but long term use as well. My mind is racing with the questions will the shorter collarbone not only affect my swing, will it affect my quality of life and/or performance when I return to high intensity exercise and lifting?

 

March 25th: I’ve stressed all day about my decision to not push for surgery but ultimately decide that getting into surgery now would reset my healing timeline and all but eliminate any chance at golf by end of May. And, golf tournament or not, if I’m not happy with the healing and results I can always come back in the future for a surgery to repair any permanent damage. 
 

March 26th: I get a figure-of-8 brace. It was suggested by the doc on the 24th when she saw how much I’m struggling with a sling. What a difference?!  It really secures the bone and gives me very limited use of my arm w/o the sling. That said it does get uncomfortable quite quickly. I foresee myself wearing it for a few hours each day while my wife is around the house. It allows me to be a bit more useful and actually work my arm through some range of motion exercises. Now that I’m able to get my arm out of the sling I realize what a hurdle I might have ahead of me in terms of rehab once I’m released for PT. My arm is extremely weak already after only 13 days. 
 

March 27th: Figure of 8 allowed me to get out for an hour walk in the nice weather and that felt great. Up until now I’ve only managed to get small walks around the neighborhood with my dog but because I’ve had to squeeze my arm to my side and shrug my shoulder up to keep it in place my muscles start cramping when I’m upright for more than a few minutes. Felt great to stay upright and get blood moving for more than just a few minutes today. Even though the figure of 8 gives me a lot of relief it’s clear two weeks of holding my right side so tightly has left me a bit cockeyed. Probably going to be some aggressive massage therapy as well when I reach PT stage to relax my neck and shoulder muscles. Plan moving forward is to continue to eat healthy, increase my exercise a bit each day, and continue with good sleep. Also going to start real gentle ROM exercises daily to try and stave off shoulder lockup as much as possible. I’m staying optimistic I can still make the tournament but preparing myself mentally to make the tough choice if necessary to withdraw. Even if I don’t make the tournament a positive of this experience is a true appreciation for my previously active lifestyle. I will definitely be returning to that. 
 

As far as how the shoulder currently feels, pain has all but subsided. I’m no longer taking anything for the pain. Of course trying to use the arm still hurts but I can at least keep it at my side in the sling without pain and with the brace I get a bit of use without pain. As hard as I try to keep everything still I can still feel the bone moving around. All my internet research seems to suggest that’s still normal at this stage but it’s really hard to trust that this thing is going to stick back together if it’s always moving around. To use the golf cliche I suppose I just have to “trust the process”

 

March 29th: Rainy day yesterday. Just did some air squats for exercise. Walked 4 miles this morning and shoulder muscles were quite fatigued by the end from just trying to hold everything still. Daily improvements in healing are hard to notice at this point. One downside to the pain subsiding is my arm will drift into an unstable position while I’m distracted with work or television resulting in the bone catching/popping/sliding when I try to move my arm again. I get real aggravated when that happens. Just not sure how it’ll heal when there are rather noticeable shifts and adjustments of the bone position several times a day. This is occurring when I have the sling or brace or both on. I can’t seem to cinch either down tight enough to stabilize it to a point where I can completely relax my shoulder. I keep reading/hearing this is normal but I just don’t trust it. My wife thinks I’m overreacting. Hope she’s right and hope I start to feel some reduction in bone movement by the end of this week. 
 

Decided to add X-ray pic since severity of the break is also a factor in healing time. It’s the straight on view which looks better than it is. The bone is in two pieces and outer piece is lying behind inner piece. 

 

More updates to come...
 

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by GolfCsty

[GolfCsty]

March 31: Decided to start individual posts so the thread stays fresh as I continue to write. I don’t know or care if anyone is actually following along but figure I’ll try and keep it up top while I go through this. 
 

Got out for a 4.5 mile walk yesterday using the figure 8 brace but shoulder was extremely fatigued by the end. As I’ve stated already I have been keeping my shoulder in a shrugged position to keep the bone together in vertical alignment.  It gets tired after staying upright for extended time. The walk took a little over an hour and muscle ache and pain at the end was quite high. Then later in the evening, while out viewing houses for purchase the shoulder just really started to cramp and staying upright became unbearable. Got home, got comfortable in the chair, and stayed put for the rest of the night. 
 

This morning the cramping started immediately after getting up. I ended up notifying work I was in a good bit of discomfort and to call me if they needed anything. Luckily I have the ability to do just that. Chilled in the recliner most of the day and iced the shoulder periodically. Pain has subsided some now and I was able to stay upright long enough to sneak a set of lunges in to get the blood pumping and also take the dog out in the early afternoon. 
 

On a positive note I believe I’ve felt less movement in the bone over the past two days. Really haven’t felt any major shifting but I dare not test if this is reality or perception yet. However, at 2.5 weeks since the injury a properly healing bone really should be starting to stick together at this point. Hope this is a sign of good things to come. 

[GolfCsty]

April 2nd: got out for 3 mile walk yesterday without the brace but still had sling on. Again quite tough on the shoulder muscles stabilizing everything. Took it easier today with just some step ups on a stool and more house hunting this afternoon which made my shoulder quite fatigued by the end. When I am resting I’m starting to experience a lot of twitching in the shoulder muscles. Especially the lat under the shoulder blade. Bone is feeling more solid. But it’s only been 20 days so I’m fairly certain it would bend and snap quite easily if I stressed it at all. Heck, I’m still scared to even let my shoulder relax and try to hang naturally. Scared that would be too much stress on the bone. With how things are progressing I think by next weekend I’ll feel confident enough to hang the arm and even take it out of the sling to hang. That’s assuming my follow up with ortho next week does show some healing. My next update will be after the follow up unless something drastic changes before then. Otherwise plan is to keep doing what I’m doing, light exercise, eating healthy, and resting.  

Edited April 3, 2021 by GolfCsty

[golfsticks]

Interesting story, can't imagine how the bone pieces would fuse together on their own with a large canyon between them,  but I've heard interesting stories and theories about the shoulder area being able to almost heal itself, unlike other joint areas in the body.  

 

It's good that you're still out walking to keep the blood flowing, walking is so good for us mentally and physically and keeping our legs strong.   Sounds like you have your bases covered.

[GolfCsty]

9 hours ago, golfsticks said:

Interesting story, can't imagine how the bone pieces would fuse together on their own with a large canyon between them,  but I've heard interesting stories and theories about the shoulder area being able to almost heal itself, unlike other joint areas in the body.  

 

It's good that you're still out walking to keep the blood flowing, walking is so good for us mentally and physically and keeping our legs strong.   Sounds like you have your bases covered.

Thanks for reading. Many other experiences I’ve read, with more gnarly looking breaks, seem to end in “it’s amazing how the human body heals”! So I’m more and more confident it will heal and I’ll be fine. It’s mostly the timeline I’m worried about at this point. For the selfish reason of trying to return to golf ASAP I’m hoping I heal quickly. If I wanna make that tournament I’ll have to heal on the short end of the general 6-12 week timeline often quoted for collarbone fractures. 

[Bocaji]

Just hit the 4 week milestone here (left collarbone break, 4 pieces /pretty severe) and just started working on passive range of motion. It’s not too tight or painful so it seems I can recover a bit quicker than what my doctor has me projected to (5 months, ouch!).

 

Have you started working on any range of motion yet? My doctor has me beginning active range of motion from 6-12 weeks (to tolerance) (so in a couple of weeks) and then actual muscle endurance stuff 12 weeks on. I hope it’s faster for you. I think recovery time depends on severity of break and age. Based on that, you should be okay, but I’m not sure you’ll be at 100% so hope your expectations are t too high.

[GolfCsty]

2 hours ago, Bocaji said:

Just hit the 4 week milestone here (left collarbone break, 4 pieces /pretty severe) and just started working on passive range of motion. It’s not too tight or painful so it seems I can recover a bit quicker than what my doctor has me projected to (5 months, ouch!).

 

Have you started working on any range of motion yet? My doctor has me beginning active range of motion from 6-12 weeks (to tolerance) (so in a couple of weeks) and then actual muscle endurance stuff 12 weeks on. I hope it’s faster for you. I think recovery time depends on severity of break and age. Based on that, you should be okay, but I’m not sure you’ll be at 100% so hope your expectations are t too high.

Sorry to hear your going through the same thing but also glad to have someone to sympathize with. Misery really does love company! Four pieces sounds rough. How did you do it? Surgery or no surgery? 

 

All in all I think my break isn’t too bad. It is completely in two pieces but their relatively close together. I’m reasonably healthy and in my early 40s. So I’m not exactly a spring chicken but not geriatric either. I think given my otherwise healthy lifestyle and a clean break I have a chance at coming back quickly. Additionally, in terms of golf I think the right collarbone is the ‘better’ collarbone to break for a right handed player as the arc of the swing puts a lot more stress on the left shoulder. Currently docs aren’t telling me I definitely won’t be playing golf at 11 weeks but saying if I am it will still be painful. I know I won’t be 100%. I’ll take 75%. Considering I’m a good player with plenty of power prior to this break if I can get to 75% and not risking further damage I’ll be good enough not to embarrass myself. I’m willing to deal with the pain for the experience. 
 

Last appointment with my doc she indicated (assuming no unexpected set backs) six weeks would be the time line to get the sling off and start rehab. I’ll find out if I’m still on track this coming Wednesday. Of course starting rehab doesn’t mean the bone is fully ready for action either. Just means it is strong enough to handle range of motion. It could be 8-12 weeks or more before they tell me it’s fully ready to rock. Only range of motion she suggested in the interim was to get the sling off once or twice a day and extend the arm to prevent the bicep from atrophy as well as wrist and finger mobility. On my own though I’ve been putting a figure of 8 brace on occasionally. With that on I’m able to grab a counter top while stepping away from it to lift the arm off my side and in front of me. But now that the bone really feels like it’s starting to stick in the last few days I’m a bit hesitant to continue with that. Scared I’ll feel too good, push it too far and break what little bit of callus may be holding it together. If things continue to feel better through this coming week I’ll probably pick up that practice again after week 4. 
 

I would love to stay updated on how your progress goes as well. Especially since you’re a week ahead of me. Hoping for a good recovery for both of us. Good Luck!

[RainShadow]

Rad Tech here. 25 years in the field, with lots or ortho experience.

Do you have another projection of your clavicle? 

Hard to tell from that one how distracted and offset it is. Definitely foreshortened.

The older you are, the longer it takes to heal. Don't rush it. 

Clavicle FX's suck. 

Sleep in the recliner w/ the sling on....Recliner is your friend...

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by RainShadow

[GolfCsty]

1 hour ago, RainShadow said:

Rad Tech here. 25 years in the field, with lots or ortho experience.

Do you have another projection of your clavicle? 

Hard to tell from that one how distracted and offset it is. Definitely foreshortened.

The older you are, the longer it takes to heal. Don't rush it. 

Clavicle FX's suck. 

Sleep in the recliner w/ the sling on....Recliner is your friend...

 

Thanks for chiming in. The X-ray up above is the only angle I snapped with my cell. The other angle they took was from about waist high in front looking up. It revealed the displacement fore and aft but the pieces still appeared to be touching or at least very close. Now that I know what I’m doing I’ll snap pics of all the angles next week.  I’d be interested in your opinion. Hoping they look better. 

[Bocaji]

3 hours ago, GolfCsty said:

Sorry to hear your going through the same thing but also glad to have someone to sympathize with. Misery really does love company! Four pieces sounds rough. How did you do it? Surgery or no surgery? 

 

All in all I think my break isn’t too bad. It is completely in two pieces but their relatively close together. I’m reasonably healthy and in my early 40s. So I’m not exactly a spring chicken but not geriatric either. I think given my otherwise healthy lifestyle and a clean break I have a chance at coming back quickly. Additionally, in terms of golf I think the right collarbone is the ‘better’ collarbone to break for a right handed player as the arc of the swing puts a lot more stress on the left shoulder. Currently docs aren’t telling me I definitely won’t be playing golf at 11 weeks but saying if I am it will still be painful. I know I won’t be 100%. I’ll take 75%. Considering I’m a good player with plenty of power prior to this break if I can get to 75% and not risking further damage I’ll be good enough not to embarrass myself. I’m willing to deal with the pain for the experience. 
 

Last appointment with my doc she indicated (assuming no unexpected set backs) six weeks would be the time line to get the sling off and start rehab. I’ll find out if I’m still on track this coming Wednesday. Of course starting rehab doesn’t mean the bone is fully ready for action either. Just means it is strong enough to handle range of motion. It could be 8-12 weeks or more before they tell me it’s fully ready to rock. Only range of motion she suggested in the interim was to get the sling off once or twice a day and extend the arm to prevent the bicep from atrophy as well as wrist and finger mobility. On my own though I’ve been putting a figure of 8 brace on occasionally. With that on I’m able to grab a counter top while stepping away from it to lift the arm off my side and in front of me. But now that the bone really feels like it’s starting to stick in the last few days I’m a bit hesitant to continue with that. Scared I’ll feel too good, push it too far and break what little bit of callus may be holding it together. If things continue to feel better through this coming week I’ll probably pick up that practice again after week 4. 
 

I would love to stay updated on how your progress goes as well. Especially since you’re a week ahead of me. Hoping for a good recovery for both of us. Good Luck!

Had to get surgery unfortunately, would rather it heal naturally but it was pretty severe. Lots of displacement. I should be able to start driving my car again in 2 weeks so that’s nice. Unlike you I don’t play in tournaments so I’m not in a rush. I’d like to start chipping in two weeks. As far as force placed on the left clavicle in the follow through, I feel fine going about left waist high (no momentum) so in a month I feel like I could add a little more momentum to that for chip shots. Depends on what the doctor lets me do, not trying to hurt myself here. 
 

Good luck to you too

[RainShadow]

1 hour ago, GolfCsty said:

Thanks for chiming in. The X-ray up above is the only angle I snapped with my cell. The other angle they took was from about waist high in front looking up. It revealed the displacement fore and aft but the pieces still appeared to be touching or at least very close. Now that I know what I’m doing I’ll snap pics of all the angles next week.  I’d be interested in your opinion. Hoping they look better. 

Angled shot is the $ shot.....

 

[GolfCsty]

April 7th (morning): Today will be 3rd ortho appointment. 25 days since injury. Figured I’d chime in this morning because I’m quite anxious about what the outcome will be. I need good news this morning if I’m going to stay on track. I will say it’s the short timeline I’m hoping for that is driving the anxiety. Without that perspective I think the healing is going well and I’ll be back to golf and all other activities in a reasonable amount of time. 
 

Since I started feeling the bone stick last week I haven’t felt much improvement. Maybe it has improved but it’s definitely still flexible even under light stress. Last week I was hopeful that come this week the bone would feel relatively solid and I’d be itching to get out of sling and start range of motion (ROM) exercises. But currently I don’t think it’s quite ready and I think doc will say the same. I am trying to hold out hope that things will improve a lot by this weekend, exactly 4 weeks from injury, and I will feel good enough to start moving the arm around a bit. Or, maybe the doc will tell me to not worry about it flexing and just go ahead with ROM. 
 

Edited April 7, 2021 by GolfCsty

[RainShadow]

4 hours ago, GolfCsty said:

April 7th (morning): Today will be 3rd ortho appointment. 25 days since injury. Figured I’d chime in this morning because I’m quite anxious about what the outcome will be. I need good news this morning if I’m going to stay on track. I will say it’s the short timeline I’m hoping for that is driving the anxiety. Without that perspective I think the healing is going well and I’ll be back to golf and all other activities in a reasonable amount of time. 
 

Since I started feeling the bone stick last week I haven’t felt much improvement. Maybe it has improved but it’s definitely still flexible even under light stress. Last week I was hopeful that come this week the bone would feel relatively solid and I’d be itching to get out of sling and start range of motion (ROM) exercises. But currently I don’t think it’s quite ready and I think doc will say the same. I am trying to hold out hope that things will improve a lot by this weekend, exactly 4 weeks from injury, and I will feel good enough to start moving the arm around a bit. Or, maybe the doc will tell me to not worry about it flexing and just go ahead with ROM. 
 

You're not ready yet.

[GolfCsty]

April 7th (afternoon) : X-ray today showed no signs of new bone yet. but that was expected. Soft callus, assuming it’s there, doesn’t show up on X-rays and at 3.5 weeks it’s common to only have soft callus. Displacement hasn’t changed so that’s a good sign.
 

Doc grabbed my arm and ran it through some light ROM to observe whether bone was moving much. Based on my description of feeling the bone move less and her observation during ROM she estimates  healing is on track and thinks it’s likely we will see calcification at 6 week follow-up. She said if those two hold true golf tournament is a definite possibility. 
 

She also said it’s fine to take the sling off and start ROM and don’t lift anything heavier than a coffee cup. This statement surprised me as I hadn’t broached that topic yet. I told her I don’t think I’m ready and scared I’ll set myself back. Her explanation was the sling and/or brace don’t actually aid in healing or healing time. They’re mostly used for comfort and pain management early on but once the pain is manageable movement of the arm makes no difference as long as it’s not overhead or under load. I’ve read opinions similar to this online as well. Many advocates of get the arm moving again as soon as possible. Even some who think the movement actually aids the healing process. Of course I’ve also heard the opposite opinion of keep it in the sling as much as possible until evidence of calcification on an X-ray. 
 

I think my only option is to continue to trust and follow her advise. As stiff, weak, and painful as my shoulder is now I worry if I waited 2.5 - 3 more weeks to start any kind of rehab I’d be too far behind to get enough strength and mobility back in 5 weeks. I think doc was also a concerned about me developing frozen shoulder as I have been keeping everything really tight. 
 

All considered it was a reasonably positive news today. A lot could still go wrong but I think I’m trending in the right direction at the moment. 

[GolfCsty]

5 hours ago, RainShadow said:

You're not ready yet.

Maybe but doc thinks I can get ROM going and, in my uneducated opinion ;), it may be the only way I get enough rehab in. 
 

Today’s X-rays attached for your opinion. Not sure why my wife zoomed in so much on the first one. She’s been amazing through this so far so I can’t be upset about one bad picture. 

[RainShadow]

Look’s like it’s starting to heal.

don’t over do it on the ROM exercises....

[GolfCsty]

12 hours ago, RainShadow said:

Look’s like it’s starting to heal.

don’t over do it on the ROM exercises....

Thanks. I couldn’t over do it even if I tried. I can barely get my arm off my side in any direction. That has me worried. Because I can’t move my arm I decided to compare my shoulders in the mirror to see if there was noticeable atrophy. What I found was the top of my right scapula protruding off the shoulder. This can’t be normal or good. It would also explain the consistent pain at the bottom of my scapula that I’ve had nearly the entire time. The pain hasn’t been drastic and I figured it was muscle ache and/or cramp from holding the rest of my shoulder funny.

 

I messaged the doc and explained the situation. They’re trying to get me in on Monday for another visit. 

[GolfCsty]

April 11th: Yesterday marked 4 weeks exactly since injury. Since Wednesday’s appointment I’ve switch to a cuff and collar sling (really it’s just a scarf tied in a knot) to make it easier to switch my arm in and out of the sling. It has been nice to have my arm out of the sling but frustrating that the use and movement is so limited. I never heard back from the doctor’s office about an appointment on Monday for the shoulder blade but I am now of the belief the protrusion I’m seeing is simply due to atrophy of the rotator cuff. For now I’m just going to continue assisted ROM exercises and try to trust the process. 

 

It’s hard to notice any day to day improvement at this point in the integrity of the my collarbone. Although, I did go to the range with my brother yesterday and hit a few dozen balls one handed, left arm of course, with a pitching wedge. I’ve got no other ‘one handed with a broken collarbone’ experiences to compare too but I never felt a noticeable bone movement or pain in the right shoulder. My brother also commented my shoulder appears to be in a more natural position compared to how hiked up and lopsided I was last time he saw me two weeks ago. I think these are good signs. 
 

I am continuing to eat healthy, get light exercise, and try to get good sleep. The exercise is another area where I’m seeing possible sign of improvement. I’m able to get a 3-4 mile walk in now with much less fatigue and pain in the shoulder by the end. 
 

That’s all for today. Looking forward to watching the Masters! 

Edited April 11, 2021 by GolfCsty

[GolfCsty]

April 14th: No significant updates. Still tough to tell day to day improvement and bone integrity is still iffy at best. It’s probably stronger than I realize but I’m sure I could still snap it quite easily if I’m not careful. After all, I am only 32 days into this.
 

I’m scared to push too far with rehab exercises even though doc cleared me to start active ROM, light strengthening with bands, and even some passive ROM above 90 degrees.
 

I am noticing small improvements so far in active ROM. As for passive, I have taken the ROM past 90 a few times but I feel enough flexing in the bone when I do it that I think I’m going to hold off going that far again until X-rays actually show calcification. At this point I see it as a balance between what the doc says, my motivation to get use of my arm back, but also listening to my own body to make sure I don’t accidentally set myself back. 

Edited April 15, 2021 by GolfCsty

[phizzy30]

Hopefully it heals quickly.  I've had broken bones in my hand and that's no fun.  Took me a lot longer to heal since I'm taking immunos due to 2 organ transplants.  I'm starting to have pain in my collar bone area and will get it an x-ray done shortly.  I can play golf without pain, but lifting weights specifically shoulder exercises hurt a bit, but not too bad.  At worst, I hope it's just a fracture and the doc tells me to rest it for a few weeks.  But yeah, keep us updated on your situation. 

Edited April 14, 2021 by phizzy30

[GolfCsty]

April 17th: It’s exactly five weeks today. Still tough to notice day to day improvement. A few times a day I test by just letting my arm relax and the structure of the shoulder is still not solid enough to hold up on it’s own. It’s just too hard to tell if it’s flexing more or less from one day to the next. However, on my walks there much less shoulder fatigue. My assumption is the bone, even though not solid, is providing  more support daily allowing my muscles to work less. 
 

Today I actually tested myself further and added some running into the routine. Real slow at first but there was no pain so I was able to pick it up to a decent pace by the end. Relatively everything felt great but when putting my shirt on after the post run shower I felt a sharp pain at the fracture sight. Nothing felt like it popped or snapped just a sharp pain. I think it was caused by rounding my shoulders too far forward while stretching the shirt over my head and left shoulder. After sitting and letting the pain subside I decided to test it a little by doing the rehab strengthening exercises since I hadn’t done those yet today. The pain picked up immediately so I’ll leave it alone for the rest of the evening. 

A little worried I may have set myself back a bit but also have to stay mentally positive. I actually went for a run today without pain so that’s a definite sign of improvement. And, despite the pain the bone did not shift/snap when stressed a bit more. I don’t want to repeat the pain but I’ll consider it not breaking again as another sign things are moving in the right direction. 
 

Moving into the 6th week now. If things are on track I should be feeling pretty good by end of next week. Fingers crossed. 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by GolfCsty

[GolfCsty]

On 4/3/2021 at 2:56 PM, Bocaji said:

Had to get surgery unfortunately, would rather it heal naturally but it was pretty severe. Lots of displacement. I should be able to start driving my car again in 2 weeks so that’s nice. Unlike you I don’t play in tournaments so I’m not in a rush. I’d like to start chipping in two weeks. As far as force placed on the left clavicle in the follow through, I feel fine going about left waist high (no momentum) so in a month I feel like I could add a little more momentum to that for chip shots. Depends on what the doctor lets me do, not trying to hurt myself here. 
 

Good luck to you too

How are you feeling? You able to drive a car yet?

[RainShadow]

Patience, Grasshopper....

[GolfCsty]

On 4/18/2021 at 1:41 PM, RainShadow said:

Patience, Grasshopper....

Clearly I don’t have any 😉 . The patient side of my brain wants to do less rehab than what the doctor prescribed. It’s not confident things are healing as well as doc thinks it is and I want to wait until bone feels solid before pushing. I really am a slow and steady type personality. 
 

But, because I’ve set a deadline, the impatient side of my brain wants to trust the doc, push the rehab, and hope things miraculously start to feel a lot better in the next week or two. 
 

Impatience is winning that tug of war a little at this time. 
 

I get more X-rays next week. That’ll be true decision time for golf tournament. I’m hoping for good news but won’t be overly disappointed if it’s bad news. That would put the stress of trying to heal behind me. I’ll be able to just let it happen and heal on its own timeline. 

[RainShadow]

50 minutes ago, GolfCsty said:

Clearly I don’t have any 😉 . The patient side of my brain wants to do less rehab than what the doctor prescribed. It’s not confident things are healing as well as doc thinks it is and I want to wait until bone feels solid before pushing. I really am a slow and steady type personality. 
 

But, because I’ve set a deadline, the impatient side of my brain wants to trust the doc, push the rehab, and hope things miraculously start to feel a lot better in the next week or two. 
 

Impatience is winning that tug of war a little at this time. 
 

I get more X-rays next week. That’ll be true decision time for golf tournament. I’m hoping for good news but won’t be overly disappointed if it’s bad news. That would put the stress of trying to heal behind me. I’ll be able to just let it happen and heal on its own timeline. 

 Rushing it isn't going to help, only hurt your recovery.

 

[GolfCsty]

April 21st: 5.5 weeks since injury. Updates are getting less significant but one purpose of this is to document how things feel day to day so anyone in the future has a detailed experience of what things feel like through the healing process. That’s one of the things that has frustrated me and prompted me to do this. Most experiences I’ve read essentially say “It hurt for a few weeks, then it hurt less, then waited a few more weeks, and then I was better”. I was really hoping for much more detailed information of how the bone and healing progressed day to day and week to week so I could set my expectations realistically. 
 

Over the last two weeks I’ve stated day to day improvement has been tough to notice and that still holds true but I can definitely say it is much more solid today than it was two weeks ago. I still test a few times a day by just letting my arm and shoulder relax and hang at my side. As of today I barely feel any flex in the bone when I do that. So little so that it’s possible I’m imagining any flex that I do feel.

 

However, rounding my shoulders forward or bringing my right arm across my chest still causes some pain and I feel instability/flexing in the bone when I do that. It is improving but it’s still weak enough that I avoid those motions as much as possible. Even when doing rehab exercises.

 

I did have an MRI yesterday to inspect the scapula as I’ve been experiencing pain at the bottom of the scapula and it’s appearance is more prominent than the left. I had mentioned this about two weeks ago to the doctor. The office didn’t respond immediately and I kind of stopped worrying about it but they did get back to me last week and, since X-rays hadn’t indicated a scapula fracture, she order the MRI out of an abundance of caution. 
 

Doctor will go over the MRI with me next week but reading and interpreting what I can from the results everything appears ok. Some bone bruising in the scapula but no fracture. All tendons and ligaments are in tact. There is some fluid in the shoulder joint and general soft tissue damage but I suppose that’s to be expected after a trauma. There is some cartilage missing (luckily the labrum is healthy) but I honestly don’t even know if that’s accident related. I have been swinging a golf club my entire life so it would be shocking if my shoulder looked perfect in an MRI even before the accident. At this point I’m not worried about the scapula and I’m assuming the visual prominence of it just atrophy of rotator cuff. I think the pain in the scapula is simply because I’m still holding my shoulder in a tense and upright (gotta keep that posture on point!) position most of the day. 
 

Still trying to keep up with ROM rehab but still hesitant to push it. I have no idea how much pain I should tolerate and/or at what point I may be pushing too far. Because of that I’ve asked the doc for a referral to a physical therapist. A PT should be able to guide me better and possibly even develop a program focused on regaining the ROM specific to golf. 

Edited April 21, 2021 by GolfCsty

[GolfCsty]

April 24th: Six weeks exactly today. I’m having a good lesson in the fact that reality rarely meets expectations. When this all started, after lots of googling, I had set myself up with the expectation that I’d have decent range of motion and probably even be putting and chipping by end of six weeks. With hope to build up to pitches by end of week 8 and pushing for full(ish) swings by week 10-11. 
 

Well, as of today I can barely even get into a setup position with two hands on the club. It’s not painful to do so just scary as the bone still doesn’t feel solid when the shoulders round forward. I’m really starting to doubt my ability to hit the 11 week timeline and make that tournament. I’ll have to have a long conversation with the doc this week about my chances. Two and a half weeks ago she said chances were good but my confidence is wavering. If I have to withdraw I need to do it sooner than later to give the organizers a chance to find an alternate. 
 

That’s enough pessimism. On the optimistic side the bone does continue to improve even if it’s not as fast as I’d like. I’m also holding out hope that the softness I’m feeling in the bone is maybe not the bone but just the atrophy of my muscles causing a weird feeling when I round forward. I mean 2.5 weeks ago the doc told me I really couldn’t break it again just through range of motion. That statement alone should make me feel confident but, without someone guiding me, I’m still too hesitant to truly push myself. 
 

I am starting to get the signature lump showing through the skin at the fracture site. For those that don’t know, conservatively treated clavicles often heal by just forming a large lump of bone around the fracture which is then visible underneath the skin. Now that the lump is forming I’m gaining confidence  in the healing progress and strength of the bone. Looking forward to see what the X-rays reveal next week. 
 

I’m continuing with active-assisted ROM exercises (elevating the arm no more than 90 degree) and doing light strength work, within my current ROM,  with bands rated at only 3lb. I’m gaining some ROM but not much. It’s still quite limited. Under my own power I can only elevate the arm approximately 60 degrees in flexion and abduction without pain. Adduction across the chest is limited but mostly because of my own fear. However, extension to the rear doesn’t seem to be affected at all. Really looking forward to working with a physical therapist to maximize my efforts.
 

On the exercise front, now that I can run without pain I’m consistently alternating between walking on odd days and running on even days. 
 

On another positive note I did get over to the course today and hit pitches, one handed of course, in the short game area for about an hour. Felt good to get out of the house for a bit. I’ve really missed that feeling of cleanly nipped wedges off of short grass. Also enjoyed the ego boost as other players stopped to comment how good my pitching was. No one cares when a good pitch is hit by a person with two hands. But do it with only one hand and they think you’re a savant!

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by GolfCsty

[jbgolfin]

I broke my right collarbone March 30th, badly enough to require surgery (April 8). I was able to hit chip shots etc. 2 weeks post and am now able to basically half swing 3 weeks post surgery. I’m young and fit and healthy but still surprised by how little pain and uncomfortableness I have had. Still not sure what my timeline looks like for getting back to real golf but interested in keeping up with your journey. 

[GolfCsty]

April 28th: 6.5 weeks since injury. Well, reality sucks! X-rays today showed no more healing. Surprising that the bone really does feel like it’s been getting better. Although I’ve also documented that I felt it wasn’t progressing as fast at it should and rounding the shoulders forward definitely produces a feeling the bone is moving. This isn’t entirely out of the ordinary. There are plenty of documented cases of folks regaining full use and mobility only to have some chronic pain years later and find out it’s because the clavicle never actually healed. 
 

Doc gave me option of continuing to wait for it to heal or go ahead with surgery. I’m going with surgery. 
 

I chose surgery because at this point there’s no good prediction of when or even if it will heal on its own. I don’t want this to drag out 6 months or more. Plus surgery IMO has a better chance of restoring the shoulder back to pre-injury position, shape, and mobility. For these reasons as well as the probability of quicker recovery I had wanted surgery initially but felt it wiser to listen to the doctors. Really wishing I had stood my ground back then but I also realize I’m looking at the situation with 20/20 hindsight. Maybe if I had gotten multiple opinions I’d have found a doctor more willing to operate but, even though I have insurance, I don’t have the luxury of multiple opinions (at least not without jumping through a bunch of hoops). 
 

Definitely not going to make my 11 week goal. I’m really bummed to have to back out of the tournament but relieved at the same time that I no longer have the stress of trying to control something I can’t actually control. 
 

Surgery probably won’t be for two more weeks as I have some travel coming up that I really shouldn’t cancel. Even though I didn’t achieve my goal I still intend to continue this thread until I’m taking full power swings again. Hopefully that’s sometime before end of summer. However, updates between now and the surgery date are a bit pointless as I’ll be starting from square one again at that time. I’ll post the surgery date once it’s scheduled and then pick up regular updates again on or about that time. 

[GolfCsty]

Surgery date is May 18th