Ouch

[ninerfan]

Sigh. Took my first major spill on the bike over the weekend after six years of riding and am now dealing with a sternoclavicular dislocation. Does anyone have any experience with this injury and the recovery procedure? It would be nice to know what I might be up against.

Despite the suckiness of crashing in general, things could have been so much worse. The fall cracked my helmet but the ol' noggin is ok! My front derailer will need some repairs, but the frame looks alright. Obviously I'll ask the shop to give the frame a really close look. Already counting down until the next time I can ride.

[TrekDianna]

Oh, so sorry, but a relief that it wasn't worse!

[OakLeaf]

Ow ow ow ow.

No experience with that particular injury, but since I've been dealing for months with an injury that affects all the shoulder joints as well as the sternocostal joints ... my best advice is to find the best massage therapist you can find. Don't settle for someone who doesn't have a very good grounding in how the joint works. If you leave a session feeling like your muscles have been worked unevenly, so that some muscles have been released but the antagonist muscles are now pulling the joint farther out - find someone else. How to find someone I truly have no idea, I've been to a LOT of LMTs, some better than others, but only one who is truly competent, and when he got injured I was completely on my own.

Don't let a PT give you strengthening exercises until your bones are in good alignment and any trigger points or muscle spasms are relieved. Way too high a chance of making things worse. Shoulders are EXTREMELY tricky, and as you know (now if not before), the SC joint is the only true bone-to-bone "joint" in the entire shoulder girdle, so the stability of the whole mess really depends on that one. Very best wishes for a complete and quick recovery.

I am not a doctor, etc., etc., etc....

[smittykitty]

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your boo. Glad it was no worse! Heal soon. Take care of yourself.

[crazycanuckoz]

I've been lurking & noticed this thread...:o

I dislocated my SC joint in 2007 after running into another cyclist..yeowch...Did yours move up or back by chance? Mine moved up 1cm & has stayed that way ever since. No surgery or anything like that for me....

(If you have a look around on TE..somewhere there should be a post from me about my crash & some useful info from Wahine :))

All i can say is, take care & remember, flare ups may happen with an SC joint dislocation :(.

I'm not an avid cyclist as i once was so don't have to worry about falling & annoying the joint...I have however found the love of 10k's, half marathons :cool: and the occasional marathon :eek::cool:.....

Take care :)

[Catrin]

So sorry Ninerfan, I feel for you in this recovery process. I've a jacked shoulder in that the entire shoulder girdle has issues (from many incidents over a lifetime) so I feel your pain. Oakleaf gave very good advice. It seems that so many focus on going straight to strengthening when it really encompasses the joint capsule, bone, muscle and connective tissues - all of those need addressing. Strengthening too soon can lead to other issues.

CrazyCanuck!!!! It is good to see you, I've been wondering about you. Just because you don't ride as much as you once did (neither do I) doesn't mean we can't hear from you :)

[ninerfan]

Crazy Canuck- my clavicle moved up, though I'm not sure by how much. I have a closed reduction scheduled for this morning, which was recommended by the orthopedist I was sent to after my visit to the ER. I have been warned, however, that reductions often don't take and that its pretty common for the clavicle to pop back out even if the procedure is initially successful :( If that happens, they'll just leave it out and let it heal that way and I'll have the bump that I currently have in the middle of my chest. Do you have this bump? Did you have to wear a brace and/or sling during recovery? I'll take a look for your old post :)

Thanks for the well wishes and words of advice, all. Oak Leaf, I have discovered the hard way the truth in your statement that the whole stability of the shoulder area essentially depends on the SC joint. It's crazy how quickly you learn how essentially every movement in your upper body implicates the joint or some part in the near vicinity. I'm so limited right now in terms of movement, mostly due to pain. Getting dressed is an ordeal as is getting sleep! I also have concerns about soft tissue injuries in my shoulder, which is actually where a significant amount of my pain is currently coming from. This makes sense, as my shoulder took the brunt of my fall and is what forced the dislocation in the first place.

Ultimately, I'm ready to get this show on the road. This is the first "long-term" injury I've ever had, so all of this is unchartered territory. My parents have a lot of experience with PT and recovery for their own issues (especially my dad after shoulder surgery) so hopefully there are some lessons to draw on. I think my main issue will be patience and learning that the process of a proper recovery will likely take a lot longer than I want it to.

[roadie gal]

A sternoclavicular dislocation is an unusual injury. Usually it's the acromioclavicular joint that gives way. It's a very shallow joint without much support to hold it in place so it's easy to reinjure it. You may be in a sling for a while to take the weight off of it. I would imagine that it will take 6-8 weeks to heal enough to be able to ride your bike safely.

[Owlie]

Ow! Glad it wasn't worse, though.

Heal up quickly!

[crazycanuckoz]

Catrin-hello *waves* :)

Ninerfan, I didn't get much feedback from dr's at the time about my sc joint as it was a minor issue compared to my knee injury at the time. It flared up once then badly 2yrs ago-what made it worse was my weight & bad posture.

All i can say is...Think of what sports you can do with carrying a long term injury- it doesn't mean the end of sport at all. If you swim, make sure you use uber proper technique!

Back & core work exercises helped, but not sure what they'll suggest to you.

Groceries-make sure to get yourself one of those cool carry trolleys :cool: as carrying grocery bags for me bothers my shoulder..Same with heavy backpacks..not ideal...

[OakLeaf]

You know, I wonder if what I've had all along didn't include a low grade bilateral SC subluxation. That's the only way I can explain the way the notch between my SCM tendons did NOT fall between the heads of my clavicles, for months. I kept pointing it out to every practitioner I saw and they just ignored it like it was normal ... but how could it be. My LMT got them centered within two treatments, but the head of the left one still sticks out ...