# Bone Stimulator - Broken Clavical



## bitsq (Jul 1, 2009)

(i had this posted in the canadian forums.. maybe i'll get some different answers here)

Hey guys,
I broken my collar bone on november 12 at kelso, which is about 3 months ago. It was a nasty break and it was a long healing process. It's been a little over 2 weeks since i've taken the figure 8 brace off and i'm still having some pain at the site of fracture at the end of my work days. I've had about 6 x-rays since the accident that were all showing slow improvements each time. The last one was on tuesday and it looks like the new bone section has grown in. The doctor was saying that there isn't any more movement in the bone; but there are some areas of pretty sever tenderness.
Currently it feels like my bone is "pulling apart" after a long days work. (i work an office job that requires me to walk around frequently during the day)

I guess i'll fine out on my next visit in a month if the bone is truly a nonunion or if it's just taking a long time to heal 

I've been doing alot of reading on Bone Stimulating machines and wanted to know if anyone else has had any experiences with them? i've also read that ultrasound treatment is quite effective


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## Punch (Feb 28, 2008)

I don't know about bone stimulating machines, but why didn't you have surgery? How bad was the break?


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

FWIW, a broken fibula for me required a bone stim method to help it heal.

My break was wrapped to tight via the first soft cast. This cut off blood flow and as I understand it, made my body "think" I had lost a portion of my leg. The bone itself basically scabbed over. When the soft cast was removed (understand I complained of it being too tight but the nurses said it was me not resting and keeping it elevated), the skin had extruded through the wraps and started to discolor towards black. It looked like a zebra. The girls removing the soft cast freaked out, then there were meetings between doctors and so forth. Me and the injury no doubt became secondary. So after two extra months spent in casts, I gave up on that doctor and went to a new doc. He had all kinds of theories, and in hind sight I wish he had gone in and cut / scraped the bone to reinjure it and start it healing properly. After months of casts and bone stim daily he finally cleared me as ok but be careful. That simple injury cost me a year instead of 6 weeks.

Truth be told, I could not say if it did help or not. While using it my opinion was smoke and mirrors. At the end of that year, my opinion was little change in the films.

I will say though that a very recent x-ray for something else in that area did show it fully healed.

No good answer for you, keep asking questions. 

You might consider asking DR Mark over on Thumpertalk.com.

PK


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## acudoc (May 3, 2010)

I would be taking strontium, an element found in bone. Take it away from calcium as they both use the same pathway. Calcium at night, stront. during the day. I would also be taking silica, you can get this in liquid form. I would also go see an acupuncturist or herbalist. If you are concerned don't leave it up to the doctors. Hopefully you don't smoke, it can prevent bone fusion.


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## billy7idol (Apr 20, 2011)

A bone stim unit may be helpful, but look into a class 4 laser. the laser helps aid ATP (energy ) the body uses for metabolism = improved healing. You might want to assess how much you use your UE, posture at work, and nutrition. 

Hang in there.


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## trumpus (Jul 21, 2009)

I assume you are referring to pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF)? This has proven benefits (unlike acupuncture, herbs and spices) in accelerating bone healing in delayed and non-unions.

A double-blind trial of pulsed electrom... [J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1990] - PubMed - NCBI

There is no data, however, to support its use specifically for clavicle fractures, however there IS a case report demonstrating successful healing in 2 delayed unions following revision surgery, treatment with bone morphogenic proteins and PEMF.

Low-intensity therapeutic ultrasound may also be of benefit:

Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound in the Treatment of Nonunion... : The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery

And a case report specific to the clavicle:

Non-union of the clavicle and dela... [J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2006] - PubMed - NCBI


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## bitsq (Jul 1, 2009)

Thanks for the responses - they were all great

I like to consider myself fairly healthy, i don't smoke, and i have been pumping my self (with the aid of a registered nutritionist) plenty of vitamins, minerals and calcium 

"why didn't you have surgery" It wasn't an option given to me, to look back now i would have asked to just be operated on and be done with all of this, but like they say hindsight is 20 20

My next appointment is on March the 6th - hopefully i have some good news, if it's still tender were going to do a CT scan and figure out exactly what's going on 

I have purchased a home Portable ultrasound machine - for the price i mean it's worth a shot (it's being delivered tomorrow) 
I will post my progress after starting to use the machine - just for reference to anyone else in the same situation


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## trumpus (Jul 21, 2009)

bitsq said:


> I have purchased a home Portable ultrasound machine - for the price i mean it's worth a shot (it's being delivered tomorrow)
> I will post my progress after starting to use the machine - just for reference to anyone else in the same situation


Awesome! Post pre and follow up radiographs if possible too! I'm a veterinary surgeon with a particular interest in orthopedics (lots of fractures, joint diseases, etc) and always interested in stuff from the human side that translates well to my patients....


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## acudoc (May 3, 2010)

There is a lot of positive research on strontium's ability to increase osteoblast activity in animal models and human clinical trials. Go to pubmed. 

Here are 2 links, the second is a report of 2 case studies involving non healing fractures and the use of strontium. Admin will not allow me to post links yet so I've listed the titles.

Effect of strontium ranelate on fracture healing in the osteoporotic rats - Ozturan - 2010 - Journal of Orthopaedic Research - Wiley Online Library

Strontium Ranelate and bone healing: report of two cases

the research on acupuncture is limited and not the best quality(china) but still worth a try.

Look up electroacupuncture and fractures

'Herbs and spices' have been used to heal people for thousands of years and many modern drugs are based on chemicals found in plants. The drug companies don't use them because they can not patent natural substances. In my opinion, strontium is much safer than fosamax etc and shows promise in healing fractures based on its osteoblast activity.


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## bitsq (Jul 1, 2009)

Well so far the use of the ultrasound has been pretty good - i am less sore during the day. I dont know if it's specifically the ultrasound of just my body healing, but either way i am feeling better. If i put my fingers over the fracture site i can feel the roundness of the new bone growing. I'm so glad to start seeing some positive signs AFTER 3.5 MONTHS!! I'm going to keep on using the ultrasound and i'll let you guys know how i make out


As for the strontium - it looks like some pretty good stuff, but it makes me wonder. Why is it not as popular as all the research pumps it up to be?
Where can i buy it? Regular drug store or does it a specialty item?


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## acudoc (May 3, 2010)

That's good news. 

Google "biostrong" and you will find it. It is not well know because drug companies can not patent it. They use the media to convince everyone they need fosamax, lunesta, vioxx....you name it. Dr.'s these days follow the drug companies and are to busy to look up the alternatives. Remember to take biostrong away from calcium(they use the same pathway). Take Ca+ in the AM and Stront. in the PM or vice versa. Cheers.


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## rzims (Sep 7, 2005)

I broke my collarbone on Aug 20, now 6 months later, I still have a complete "non-union" and used the bone stim for the last 3 months. (xrays look almost identical from first to last)
I don't have any pain and I can ride, run and do pushups so at my last appt with the ortho he said, I could have a plate put in or just leave it as is....
I wish they had offered surgery at the very beginning because I'd be healed by now, but I'm not about to do surgery now and give up riding the bike for another 8-12 weeks....


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## Caffeine Powered (Mar 31, 2005)

PMK said:


> FWIW, a broken fibula for me required a bone stim method to help it heal.
> 
> ... and in hind sight I wish he had gone in and cut / scraped the bone to reinjure it and start it healing properly. After months of casts and bone stim daily he finally cleared me as ok but be careful. That simple injury cost me a year instead of 6 weeks.
> 
> PK


Before I get to my ankle, I'll address the two clavicle fractures I've had. I've broken both sides, both were displaced fractures, neither required surgery and in both cases I was able to ride/race in 2 weeks because the pain from the soft tissue damage was low enough I could handle the pain. Both were completely calcified within 12 weeks.

In both cases I had good sports medicine/orthopedic physicians. If you're not confident in your physician's ability to care for you then you should find another physician.

As for my ankle, that's a different story. I broke my fibula (a high break, ~3" below the knee) and had a significant syndesmosis tear August 31st in a cyclocross crash. Essentially I suffered a catastrophic ankle sprain. The first image shows the screws placed through the fibula into the tibia to allow the syndemosis to heal and the joint space to be normalized. The fibula healed quickly and after 3 months the screws were removed from the ankle. Two weeks later a follow-up x-ray showed the tibia had moved at the joint resulting in 7mm of joint space. The course of treatment is as you described above, they went in and scraped the tibia and fibula to allow the marrow to bleed through. They then added a "putty" of growth factor and my own cells to allow them to fuse together. That was 4 weeks ago. Tuesday they'll remove the sutures and cast the ankle. Hopefully when they remove the cast in 6-8 weeks they'll be fused and the joint space will be uniform across the ankle. So that'll be 7-8 months of down time.


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## hufffy (May 20, 2008)

I broke my collar bone on jan 8 and had surgery on jan 18. I've been doing some light riding on fire roads and some pavement for the last week. In my opinion surgery is the way to go. It seems with my past injuries the heal time is a lot quicker


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## yewweng (Jul 11, 2004)

*Check out ESWT*

ESWT = Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy

Had a non-union for my radius/ulna fracture a few years ago. Went for this treatment called ESWT, which is essentially the same thing they use to break up kidney stones.
Went for this as it was 'non-invasive' i.e. I didn't have to be cut open again and hence minimized any chance of nerve damage.
I figured might as well give this a shot and if it doesn't work, fall back to surgery/bone-grafting. It was also much cheaper option than surgery.
It worked and the bones are joined up fully now.

Recommended this to a fellow biker with a non-union of the collar-bone recently. Worked successfully too.

Good luck and heal well! :thumbsup:


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## bandit350 (Apr 9, 2005)

trumpus said:


> I assume you are referring to pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF)? This has proven benefits (unlike acupuncture, herbs and spices) in accelerating bone healing in delayed and non-unions.
> 
> A double-blind trial of pulsed electrom... [J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1990] - PubMed - NCBI
> 
> ...


Here are a couple other good articles

Bone mass is preserved in a critical-sized osteotomy by low energy pulsed electromagnetic fields as quantitated by in vivo micro-computed tomography.
Bone mass is preserved in a critical-sized oste... [J Orthop Res. 2004] - PubMed - NCBI

Pulsed electromagnetic field treatments enhance the healing of fibular osteotomies.
Pulsed electromagnetic field treatments enhance... [J Orthop Res. 2005] - PubMed - NCBI


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## bitsq (Jul 1, 2009)

well i had another dr appointment today.. he said all things are finally a go!!! :d

I can start doing physio now and start to get back to normal activity!!! 










spoke to the doctor about the ultrasound machine and he said it was a good idea to keep using it


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## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

Take Boron, found in Apples. Also, Calcium and LOTS of bedrest(like, 10-15hrs/day) Pile on the calories, as your body focuses most of caloric expenditure on trying to heal your collarbone. Heal well...


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## whidbeydh (Oct 2, 2005)

rzims said:


> I broke my collarbone on Aug 20, now 6 months later, I still have a complete "non-union" and used the bone stim for the last 3 months. (xrays look almost identical from first to last)
> I don't have any pain and I can ride, run and do pushups so at my last appt with the ortho he said, I could have a plate put in or just leave it as is....
> I wish they had offered surgery at the very beginning because I'd be healed by now, but I'm not about to do surgery now and give up riding the bike for another 8-12 weeks....


I've had a non-union for nearly 10 years. Hasn't slowed me down one bit! Three Orthos have refused touch it...


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## MTB Pilot (Oct 23, 2010)

hufffy said:


> I broke my collar bone on jan 8 and had surgery on jan 18. I've been doing some light riding on fire roads and some pavement for the last week. In my opinion surgery is the way to go. It seems with my past injuries the heal time is a lot quicker


I'm having surgery tomorrow to put my clavicle with a titanium plate.:thumbsup: How much faster does the healing happen with the surgery? I was told in the ER that it was 4-6 weeks and no surg. The ortho said it wouldn't heal properly because of the chip in the middle, but that I should be able to do some resistance PT right away. :thumbsup:

The funny thing is that it really doesn't hurt unless I really tweek it, but it is pretty gross when I feel the bones rubbing each other.


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## bitsq (Jul 1, 2009)

How did the surgery go?


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## MTB Pilot (Oct 23, 2010)

Well I was asleep for it, but they told me it went well.

Doing good though, thanks!

Here is what they gave me(bottom pic). http://forums.mtbr.com/9669201-post13.html


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