# How to prevent collar bone injuries



## dodge (Aug 4, 2007)

It seems to me like the most common injury apart from the odd scratch and broken arm/leg is a broke collar bone. Now i haven't had a injury like that yet and i hope i don't.
So i was wondering whats the best way to prevent it.


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## Drew K. (May 30, 2006)

tuck and roll...


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## petercarm (Nov 5, 2007)

Pop your AC joint instead?

Serious answer...

... landing on an outstretched arm or an elbow puts big loads up into the AC joint/collarbone area.

... landing on the shoulder itself does too

Mostly you just have to avoid the accident or be lucky. I've been MTBing for 16 years and have just done my AC joint. I was unlucky this time but that was topping off 16 years of good luck.


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## Birdman (Dec 31, 2003)

Drew K. said:



> tuck and roll...


+1

Endoed and landed on my shoulder back in '94 - snapped my collarbone like a twig, messed up my shoulder and (unknowingly, at the time) my neck. After that, I naturally tried the outstretched hand approach when falling and hyper-extended my elbow 3x.

Now I just do the "balled-up rag-doll" when I crash (rarely) and have been okay.

Only way to avoid injury is to not crash.

JMJ


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## Guest (Oct 3, 2008)

petercarm said:


> I was unlucky this time but that was topping off 16 years of good luck.


You've got me beat, I made it 15 years and am still recovering from landing on my shoulder 4 months ago.

Tuck and roll is correct, and general good fitness helps, which I had more of 15 years ago!

Do some searching. I contributed to a thread where a youngster broke a collarbone, and a few of us with much more severe injuries gave our $0.02.

G.


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## p0n3y (Sep 17, 2008)

got a friend that came down on his shoulder, and dislocated his collor bone. didnt break it, dislocated it. sounds crazy, and looked even crazier. i got a vid if anyone wants to see..lol


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## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

I broke my collarbone six months ago. A rock stopped me dead cold, and stupid me thought I could ride it out. The bars ripped away from my hands and I landed square on the left shoulder....then my helmeted head. 

From prior experience- my best suggestion is to avoid falling, at all costs. Statistically, the #1 cause of falls...............is excessive speed. Not only does speed make your reaction time non-existent- but it also makes impacts much more severe. Also, clipless pedals make falls nastier, if you are not used to unclipping. Just remember this clipless rule- before you ever come to a full, planned stop.......make sure you are unclipped on both feet.


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## N?A (Sep 24, 2008)

haha to me, riding is all about insane speed. the faster the better. the ultimate goal= speed. but yeah, dont ride it out, and tuck and roll!


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## rdhood (Jul 30, 2008)

dont hit shoulder first, dont put out a hand to stop your fall. relax and take the impact along the entire side of your body. 

Many years ago, Bicycling magazine showed some famous collar bone breaks, and the physics behind them. In short, put out a hand to slow/stop your fall (which is a natural thing to do) causes the brunt of the impact to be moved to your collar bone... a small weak bone that is least able to absorb the impact. Best advice was to just fall and let the whole side of your body absorb the impact.


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

The Tuck and roll is a good way to go. If you mess it up you break your collarbone. Don't tuck and have that shoulder pulled back and you pop your AC joint....trust me you don't want to do that.


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## justanotherbikegeek (Jun 3, 2008)

Here's the thing - most crashes happen way to fast for anyone to even remember to tuck and roll, let alone actually do it. The natural instinct, unfortunately, is to stick out an arm to brace for the impact. We all know that's no good. So, other than practicing crashing and doing a tuck and roll, I just don't see the tuck and roll advice is going to do much good.

Back in 1989, I endoed on a steep, rocky downhill. I don't think I was even going 2mph. My collarbone landed right on a rock, which immediately broke it. The bone was not set in the ER, so I have a protruding bone lump on my left collarbone. It caused me problems for YEARS, and I still cannot lie down on my left side for any length of time because the collarbone will start hurting. It also messed with my C6 vertebra and - years after the crash - I found myself getting numb fingers from the compression of the vertebra. Had to have traction done a somewhat regular basis, but it eventually cleared up.

Anyway, all the advice about the best way to land is purely academic. In real life, you have maybe 2 seconds to remember this advice and actually follow it. Honestly, I just don't think it's possible.


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## jmallory (Jul 29, 2008)

Most people think dislocated shoulder when they are actually talking about a separated shoulder. Third degree AC separation is much worse than a dislocation. If you have a bump on your shoulder after a crash, its probably your collar bone and an AC separation. Not fun if its 3rd degree!!


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

It takes some training to make the tuck and roll instinctual. I hated Gymnastics as a kid, and really worked my ass off in Tae-Kwon-Do for some 10 years&#8230;and they both have given me the skills to not hurt myself in other sorts. Well 99 times out of 100 anyway, sometimes you just go down hard. It's a combination of getting older and a rough crash, but I made it 15-20 years without seriously hurting myself cycling...and now I've got one of those AC Separations. 
That being said had I not taken the hit with my face/shoulder and stuck an arm out, I'd probably have a broken arm/torn rotator cuff/torn knee ligament/broken wrist/etc. 
So the big thing is not to stick anything out, and spread out the impact as much as possible. Don't do either and you will break something. Tuck it all up and help the tilt the odds against the house.


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## rdhood (Jul 30, 2008)

> So the big thing is not to stick anything out, and spread out the impact as much as possible


Exactly. And relax.


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## Birdman (Dec 31, 2003)

justanotherbikegeek said:


> Back in 1989, I endoed on a steep, rocky downhill. I don't think I was even going 2mph. My collarbone landed right on a rock, which immediately broke it. The bone was not set in the ER, so I have a protruding bone lump on my left collarbone. It caused me problems for YEARS, and I still cannot lie down on my left side for any length of time because the collarbone will start hurting. It also messed with my C6 vertebra and - years after the crash - I found myself getting numb fingers from the compression of the vertebra. Had to have traction done a somewhat regular basis, but it eventually cleared up.


That's creepy - I broke my left collarbone as well, improperly braced in the ER, resulting in delayed healing (about 8+ weeks compared to 5-6 typical) with incorrect alignment, and I've had inflamed disk issues (C5/C6) years later.

In my case, the inflamed disk pinched a nerve to my right arm, resulting in "referred" pain in that arm that felt similar to having your skin torn off with hooks. The pain was nonstop for DAYS. It took 3 doctors and 2 weeks to get the correct diagnosis, and treatment was 1 month of fairly intense physiotherapy to essentially stretch out my neck to give the disk some room. It still acts up, in which case I do a few simple stretches to stretch my neck out. Now I only have partial sensation in my right thumb and forefinger.

Long story short - if you do break your collarbone, get it fixed right.

JMJ


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## adjunkie (Feb 20, 2007)

bulk up


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## Nostromo (Sep 22, 2005)

adjunkie said:


> bulk up


Short and sweet, but there is truth in this statement!


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## dompedro3 (Jan 26, 2004)

rdhood said:


> dont hit shoulder first, dont put out a hand to stop your fall. relax and take the impact along the entire side of your body.
> 
> Many years ago, Bicycling magazine showed some famous collar bone breaks, and the physics behind them. In short, put out a hand to slow/stop your fall (which is a natural thing to do) causes the brunt of the impact to be moved to your collar bone... a small weak bone that is least able to absorb the impact. Best advice was to just fall and let the whole side of your body absorb the impact.


Im not one to speak, but I have never broken my collar bone.

Instead what happened was fell, but didnt put my arm out (no time), instead my ribs hit a big round rock that was protruding a few inches from the soft grass/underbrush

I cracked 2 ribs as well as got Costochondritis.

Costochondritis is the inflammation of the cartilage in the breastbone. It hurt to breath and do certain movements for about 12 months afterwards and now, almost 2 years later, I still have chest pain occasionally (and I may never be able to do dips at the gym again).

The pain resulted in 2 separate ER visits due to severe chest pain and difficulty breathing.

My advice, dont fall, and if you're going to fall, try to take the hit on the biggest part of your body. And your protect your ribs.


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## Firewater1022 (Oct 9, 2008)

One of the main things I learned while training in ju jitzu and kung fu was how to fall and spread out the impact over the larger portions of your body. Of course, that all went out the window during a bad snowboarding crash, where of course, I used my left arm/hand/wrist to break my fall. And boy oh boy did it break...


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## iridexc (Sep 21, 2008)

dont do Dj's on an xc bike, just had my collar bone fixed with plate and screws after i overshot the landing on a dj 
and now im out twoish months

http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=5021133&postcount=376


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