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Yesterday's bike ride hit gravel went down. Broken clavicle right side will heal no surgery, broken 4 and 5th metacarpals, they need surgery but possibly not. Hopefully dr will call back today. Arm in sling and basically called boxer's fracture. I did manage to play the guitar reasonably that we be great since not a lot of other things i can do. Pick only for awhile.
Any experience others might have would be helpful? Not in any real horrible pain but usual effects of falls and bruises. I might add that i got back on bike after crash to ride the remaining 11 miles home. Adrenalin and possibly shock are amazing.
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05-21-2024 04:07 PM
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Sorry to hear that. I've suffered 2 significant bike crashes (and barely missed a very serious collision with a car years ago) where I was thrown off the bike. In one I sustained a minor pelvic fracture, and the other a sprained wrist. Plus some road rash.
In the first case I ended up being transported to a nearby ER by an ambulance. In the second, I rode my bike 10 miles back home, cursing my wrist sprain the entire way.
I have broken a few fingers here and there (phalanges, not metacarpals), and broke my collarbone as a teen. Had to wear a figure 8 brace for 6 weeks. Not too big a deal, as I recall.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. You will get over it. And yes playing guitar is good therapy.
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My bike was not rideable after I had a disagreement with a cow in the High Sierra. I turned down the offer of a airlift and took the offer from the California Highway Patrol officer for a ride home. That was a very painful journey down the Mountain but saved me about 20K.
Busted shoulder, ribs, knee. Had surgery on shoulder. I, wore a brace for few weeks but removed it to practice. Took about 3 months to get back to normal, I started right away with my 16" guitar gradually going to my 17"
I realize we are talking pedal bikes here-I had some speed going on my Ducati. Which was totaled.
Still riding!
Best Wishes for a rapid recovery!
Before and after Morphine in the ER:
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What doesn't kill you... will try again!
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Not sure this will apply to you...
With my right shoulder injury a big bout guitar causes pain a small thin guitar doesn't, like a tele. For me it has to do with how much I'm raising my right elbow/upper arm/shoulder to get around the bout of the guitar. If it turns out to be the same for you, it will probably be immediately apparent.
I hope you heal quickly.
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Back when I was young and stupid (redundant, of course) I snapped my clavicle while riding a dirt bike, just a few days before I was to begin helicopter flight training. Despite a figure-8 brace, the bones grew back together side to side for an inch or so. I was able to fly without much of a problem, despite that shoulder being on the left side, where the collective pitch control was, and needing a lot of up and down movement, although not much effort was needed. Not much pain, and the only long-term issue is that my left shoulder is shorter than the right. A few years later I broke that same clavicle playing flag football, just a crack not a full break, but that was far more painful than the full break. I suspect that being in my early 20s helped the healing a lot. I wouldn't want to contemplate that happening now.
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Killer Cows! Seriously, I hit a deer on a very exotic motorcycle, a Laverda 750S back in 1999. Fortunately, in both my wildlife encounters I had full leathers, full face helmet. Saved my bacon.
Originally Posted by lawson-stone
In both cases, the bikes were totaled. And in both cases, my final thought was..."I hope the bike is OK..."
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Fully aware of that, and if you read my 1st reply I noted that we were talking pedal power. Originally Posted by GuyBoden
Cheers!
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I assume the fractured metacarpals are in your picking paw and not your fretting hand, if you can still play. You must be pretty uncomfortable with those injuries. I’ve had a broken left wrist and left thumb over the years, each of which kept me from playing at all for weeks. The wrist hurt like h3ll for about 2 weeks despite immobilization in a cast.
I hope you heal fast & fully!
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These 2 fingers work fine soft cast in way. They have not called back yet if it needs surgery but I want a local not general anesthesia. They said it can be done nerve block to right arm.
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Don't be surprised to be ambushed by some back pain eventually. 50 years ago, I went over the handlebars of my bicycle (with an assist from a Volkswagen) and landed on my face and chest. The lasting damage, though, seems to have been to my back, and to this day, just the right wrong move will put it out for a day or three.
Last edited by RLetson; 05-22-2024 at 05:12 PM.
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Livestock can be very dangerous. I know of a woman who hit a large hog on the road one night. It threw her small car into a tree well off the road, where it caught fire and burned her to death. Not immediately, we got her to the burn center alive, but she didn't make it. I also know of a man who hit a deer on a street well inside a Houston suburb, the deer came through his windshield and kicked him to death. It can happen anywhere, anytime.
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I am aware 9 years ago i slid on black ice broke hip but no displaced. 3 screws and went back to running in 16 weeks. Road bike on trainer 5 days after surgery, keep that up daily. Things different 9 years older. Originally Posted by RLetson
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Godspeed healing wise.... I have no impact trauma stories to tell.
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I've never seen a guitar with a clavicle, much less a broken on, so I don't know how to play one.
Horrible, but it had to be done.
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At least you make no bones about it. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Get well soon (hopefully without further help!), and idem. Well, not counting the 1 fracture I ever had at 12 or so, sustained during my one and only judo lesson. Fell backwards, caught myself on my extended right arm and broke both bones just about the wrist. Took 6 weeks in plaster to heal (and was set without anaesthesia because our FD made us wait for the experienced surgeon -he plays violin!- and that guy considered the injection would hurt more than the intervention so long after the fact). Originally Posted by Mick-7
I've since gone down in all kinds of ways on pedal bikes (totalled 2 of those, though the 2nd rather got totalled by rust and took me down because of that) and 3 times on a motorcycle (just totalled the fairing and panniers 3 times). Never sustained more than bruises, road rash and 1 broken tooth (plus a busted signet ring which probably protected the finger it was on). My working theory is that the pedal bike and later martial arts experience told me to go limb except where tightened muscles can absorb impact shock but I'm not keen anymore on testing it, not after having picked up playing an instrument again. More than once I was actually peeved by not having sustained more damage instead of my MC ... after all I heal and all that.
FWIW, I hate mountain bikes and the like in this context, for the riding position they force you to adopt. A more upright riding position as on traditional Dutch and English bikes must give you much more options to react when something goes wrong. On more than one occasion I've had a front or back wheel slip on "mobile substrate" and been able to let it go out from under me while remaining on my feet myself because of that upright position. (Doesn't work if you're going fast of course, but that's not advisable on gravel - and hardly possible in dry sand
The broken tooth was from me being in a hurry on a day with black ice on an asphalted bike path and taking a 90 bend at speed 
)
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Well Tuesday it is closed pinning of boxer's fracture no hardware permanent. This allows bones to align and better for straight outcome and future. Outpatient 45 mins and local block. Take pins out in 10-14 days hope it goes as expected could end up open reduction.
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Sorry to hear about your accident! Pinning of metacarpal neck fractures is a minimally invasive technique, safe standard procedure with good prognosis. The clavicle fracture is annoying ("conservative" means there's not too much dislocation and no impairment of the vascular-nerve-supply), but shouldn't cause any problems. Morphine is divine (at the location of the accident or in the ER)!
Your doc will probably try to carry out an antegrade intramedullary K-wire fixation of the metacarpal fractures Intramedullary Fixation of Metacarpal Fractures With Commercially... | Download Scientific Diagram (researchgate.net),
alternatively a Bouquet pinning with two or three thinner K-wires Operative method. Bouquet pinning of a small finger metacarpal neck... | Download Scientific Diagram (researchgate.net)
Rapid recovery!
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Olfret are you a hand surgeon that is exactly the procedure. I am hoping it can be done closed and not need to go open. I also hope the nerve block works they give you bit of anesthesia to keep you relaxed but I don't even want any of that. Should allow fastest recovery and less chance of side effects. I just hope my hand won't hurt too bad and I gave some use of arm and hand in process. Maybe even play the guitar. He said playing guitar for recovery was good therapy but not sure if that is before or after the pins removed. Also, hope this week of just in a soft cast has not made process more difficult due to the natural healing already at work I am sure. Originally Posted by Ol' Fret
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General anesthesia is safe and effective these days. Despite being given a terrible reputation by the media and police, fentanyl is a wonderful drug. When I was flying EMS, the med crew in the back administered it to almost every trauma patient, and the patient's blood pressure and heart rate immediately went back to normal. I've had some minor surgeries, and for the first one, I asked the anesthesiologist what she was going to use, and when she said fentanyl and versed, I was happy to know that I would see what that feels like. It feels like nothing at all. I saw her push the dose into the IV, and woke up in recovery, feeling fine. There were no side effects that I could detect, other than being totally unaware of what happened while I was sedated. It was the same for the others, no side effects, just unconsciousness during the painful part. Perhaps smaller doses give some pleasant feeling, I don't know, but at the levels used for medical sedation, there is no feeling at all, and no hangover effects afterward. I see no advantage in trying to be macho and refusing sedation. It does not help at all, IME.
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Nothing macho about it for me. I had hip pinned 9 years ago and bladder did not wake up. Went home with catheter for a week way worse than the surgery and hip pinning. General anesthesia has greater chance of aftereffects as we age. Plus I live alone and need to try and get back home asap not to keep anyone waiting. Originally Posted by sgosnell
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Originally Posted by deacon Mark
I wouldn't worry about the plexus nerve block - that stuff works, and the chances of closed reduction for many of these "boxer" fractures are good. The timing of the operation is ok: most fractures are either treated immediately (within 6 to 8 hours, often a time and organization problem), or after the soft tissue situation has calmed down somewhat (swelling). You may have to expect that the wires will have to be left in place for a little longer than 14 days.
Personally, like other sheep in the flock, I prefer to talk about things I barely understand.
No, seriously, life meanders here and there. I wanted to study music, but instead I started with physics, only to spend my life years later, for some unknown reason, as a traumatic, orthopedic and hand surgeon. Heaven and hell, a lot of wonderful things and some horrible things. I'm retired now, but these are the facets that I have always been looking for in jazz music: the same whole range of human emotions, from the sheer joy of life to something unexpected or subversive, painful, sometimes even devilishly mean.
Although I also appreciate honest and finely presented music a la "Let the good times roll" - especially when the times or one's own fate are not always good.
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I crashed with a bike some years ago and got an undislocated radius fracture. I too managed to drive the 10 kilometers home on the bike. Originally Posted by deacon Mark
And then there was Tyler Hamilton who broke a collar bone at the first stage of Tour de France in 2003 and yet managed to complete the whole race to the finish in Paris three weeks later and even win a stage. But maybe he was drugged by more than adrenalin and shock. I remember he had his handlebars raised so he could sit in a more upright position to ease the pain.
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Update since not much else I can do. Surgery Tuesday lasted less than an hour. They did nerve block right above my elbow. My blood pressure gave them reaction my white coat nerves had it at 207/104 but they also give you a mild sedation like colonoscopy. I don't remember surgery at all home in about 1 hour. Your arm completely attached but zero feeling is quite strange I had trouble adjusting to that mentally. That wore off 12 hours later and by 1am Wednesday was starting to hurt.
I have 2 wire pins in each metacarpal of little finger and ring finger, they get pulled out eventually. I had Tramadol for pain but I thought it was useless. I took 1 pill then 4 hours later another and eventually went to naproxen and that worked fast a good. No pain and I just take 2 naproxen in morning once a day. I climb on my indoor trainer today road 20 miles but dr does not want me doing that with sweating and risk of infection. I think they are being very conservative but I will obey. Go in on June 10th then I can.
I really cannot play guitar because cast in the way but i can wait 11 days. They said playing guitar good therapy when that starts on 10th. I don't know when they might come out. The clavicle is healing it does not grind or move so maybe parts at least starting to fuse together.
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