Plate or no plate

Broken collar bone, doc said i can go either way, no plate will shorten the bone and may lead to a little bit less range/strength down the road, plate means two less weeks in the sling. Debating what to do. Also have 5 broken ribs (ribs 5-9).

Thoughts, experiences?

 

I went with a plate. it was a no brainer.

heal up!

 

Plate (or 2)! I only notice mine when my toddler gets a hold of it like he's rock climbing.

 

I would probably plate it.

I broken mine 2x and I was on Kaiser HMO. They usually let them heal by themselves, I think they were just being cheap. My left shoulder is now a good inch shorter.

 

Will the intrusive surgery for the plate add to the healing time for the ribs?

I'm not a doctor, but it would seem to me that drilling holes for a plate and an incision would add healing time to the rib injuries and make life in general a pain in the side for a while longer.

If I didn't have plans to do anything strenuous for a while, I think I'd let the collar bone heal on it's own, that way when my ribs were sore as hell, I could always get some pain from the collar bone to offset the ribs.

Will the natural approach be able to be overcome with physical therapy to regain range of motion?
Either way, heal up!

 

plate is a no brainer. just like my er doc.

Who did the diagnosis? I would highly recommend a specialized ortho doc.

 

Don't forget the risk of infection, especially when dealing with/drilling into the bone. There are lots of nasty super resistant strains hanging around at your local hospital nowadays. As someone who suffered with a bone infection for a year after hand surgery, I can tell you first hand it is not something you EVER want to experience. I cannot stress this enough.

It's a long story, but I can provide you with all the gory details if you want to know what it's like having a festering wound, being on anti-biotics for over a year, surgery after surgery, watching your job, savings and life wither around you.

I can guarantee that not one of these armchair surgeons here telling you to go with the hardware has ever had a serious infection as a result of surgery and lost a year of their lives to it. Consider yourself warned.

 

There is that too. Picc lines are no fun, I'm told.

 

Not at all. All it does is adds another pain to the list but one doesn't hinder/hurt the other.

I busted my collarbone last year at Beave along with 3 or 4 broken ribs. The ribs will heal but the discomfort sucks ass. Pain on every cough, sneeze, laugh, fart... sucks.

I plated mine along with 8 screws. Mine was %300 displaced, and my ortho doc even said it'd heal on it's own. Recovery would've been longer and more uncomfortable, and would've had to wait longer to get to PT. The pain of the shoulder was friggin' AWFUL before the surgery. Post surgical pain was bad as well, but different bad, and was a more comfortable pain, if that makes sense. I was at PT 8 days post-op and finished in 6 or 7 weeks. Initial plan was 12 weeks of PT. (tangent: DO YOUR PT AT HOME as well as at the clinic. Greatly decreases recovery time)

Get the plate. At the minimum, you'll get a cool scar and some titanium in your shoulder, which should increase your resale value.

 

Be that a it may the vast majority of people don't experience this. Plate. No brainer.

 

Sounds like a no brainer. Plate it.

 

Which super resistant strains are your referring to? MRSA? Staph aureas? The infection you experienced is about a 1 in a thousand (if not higher) risk for ANY type of surgical treatment. Sucks, yes, but a rare example of postop complications. Wasn't even a consideration for me when I elected for surgical repair. And I know a little something about it.

 

plate would stabilize things more, now everytime I get up or move the collar bone or ribs pop and move, my neck some times looks like a seesaw one side pokes bone then the other. I will look up the ratings of the hospital and its infection rates etc before calling and making the decision. ER doc had no opinion, ortho said I could go either way, but I need to decide now as he is out next week, and Im not gonna get a plate 18 days after the break.

Im leaning towards the hardware, wife not so much. But Im not surgery adverse Ive had a few before.

Thanks all.

 

plate.

i went no plate and hate it. you can see the bone sticking out and i still have problems with the shoulder 13 years later.

plates in the lower arm (other accident) put errthang straight and came out half year later. i now have a set of TI screws and nice key ring hangers...

 

Plate it, you'll heal faster and be in less pain. Did mine 5-6 years ago, have had absolutely no issues.

 

Mine was done 25 days after the break. I could have suffered 24 less days.

 

Plate. Barely notice mine anymore.

 

One more vote for PLATE! I will never even think about having ortho surgery again, I'll just do it. Broke my collarbone twice; first time I let it heal naturally and I was 8 weeks in a sling (and that's the short side of stories I've heard). Second time I had it plated and I was back in the gym 12 days later. Broke my scaphoid, I was in a cast six months and it still hadn't healed. Had a screw put in after that and was out of the cast just a few weeks later.

 

I was told 1 in 200, but the odds mean fuck all when it happens to you. The surgeon was quite glib about it when he took off the dressing and saw the wound. I spent the next 10 days in the hospital with my arm strapped to an IV pole and had scrapings/cleansing of the wound every 48 hours. And this was just the beginning. Six surgeries and losing most of the small bones in my wrist later and good as new! :up:

My point is that it is a risk that no one really took the time to discuss with me. Yes I signed off on the risks of surgery, but I had no idea what "risk of infection" really meant. Was it my fault for not educating myself enough on the risks? Absolutely. You can bet your ass I will think twice before I elect to have any surgery that isn't absolutely necessary and when someone asks opinions about getting surgery for something that is likely to heal on it's own, I will offer mine, which comes from having lived it.

 

OK, did a lot of research on this one.. Yes a plate will heal faster, yes a plate will often cause no further issues itself. BUT, no plate is stronger, takes longer to heal. Not having surgery a plus for sure. Almost a toss up. I know of some guys that have the plate removed once the bones heal. But that means a second surgery. I also know of at least one guy that had the bone re-broken and then plated because he did not like how it looked. I do not mind the lumpy look.. no one notices as I rarely go around without a shirt on...

Ron