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...

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 and the occasional marathon .....

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