Ten years ago I broke my collarbone, and was treated with only a sling. A month later it was not healing, though I was not having much pain. I had to have it re-broken. The orthopedic doc that re-broke it for me told me the same thing "As long as it doesn't bother you, no big deal"

For awhile it only bothered me when I moved a certain way, or lifted too much weight with that arm. A decade later, though, and I'm having problems with my upper back and neck, and my shoulderblade developed winging that was not there immediately after the injury.

I've read many other stories similar to mine as well. I would suggest not only wearing the figure 8 braces for the entire time you are prescribed, but also looking into having the bone re-set with a pin or stabilized to make sure it heals properly. Trust me, you don't want to wait a decade and live with the kind of pain I have because some doc who didn't know any better told you it was 'no big deal'.

I dont know if this helps but it may add more fuel for discussion. My Doctor only gave me a sling. He also encourged me to regain my regular activities after two weeks. That was three month ago and I still have no healing. He also stated that a non union was no big deal. "As long as it doesnt hurt: No big deal" Well it still hurts and it is a big deal. I am very confused as you as to the proper rehabilitation of a clavicle fracture. Can anyone answer our questions?

Hello all. I broke my collar bone during a track race 4 1/2 weeks ago. I immediately went to an ER, and was given a sling and told that I could run as soon as it felt well enough, and that I could return to racing and full activity in 4 weeks. A week later I went to an orthopedic specialist and was given a figure-8 brace, and told that it would take 6 weeks to heal. I took 9 days completely off running after I was hurt, and was in extreme pain. My arm was as immobile as I could possibly make it, as any movement was severely painful. After 9-10 days, I was able to jog 2-3 miles per day with only some discomfort, and my shoulder was continuing to improve. As my shoulder improved, I continued running more and more, returning to full activity (although MUCH less intense) within 2-3 weeks after the injury. I wore the brace for a little over two weeks, and then after inadvertently not wearing it for a night, realized that my shoulder felt just as good, and continued to improve in fact, without the brace. After a week and a half without the brace, I went into the orthopedic doc I had seen, and he was fairly furious that I hadn't been wearing the brace...he took some X-rays and told me that there was basically no healing whatsover thus far. This seems VERY strange to me, as I have been running for the past 3 weeks, and lately have had almost no pain whatsover while doing so. Is it physically possible to have no healing, and yet basically no pain? At the moment I'm wearing the brace again as a precaution, but I'm not sure what to do...on one hand, I don't want to take the risk of a non-union by not wearing the brace, but on the other hand, isn't a fractured collar bone frequently not even treated with a figure-8? Please, any help or advice would be very much appreciated.