Anyone here ever shattered their collar bone, has it affected your shooting ?

[5.56 Bonded SP]

I shattered my collar bone into several pieces, and had to have a titanium plate installed with a bunch of screws including lateral fragmentory screws.

This was about two weeks ago, and it's going to be another couple months till I can have normal use of my arm again. The plate can be felt by hand, it is basically just under the skin.

My question is this, does anyone have one of these, and has it impacted your shooting of heavier recoiling rifles?
I'm sure I could shoot 5.56 just fine, but I'm concerned about heavier recoiling rifles.

I will ask the doctor on my next follow up, just curious if anyone here has had the same experience.

(I've had secondary opinion given on the quality of the implant, and this was actually done very well by a very skilled surgeon.)

Pictures for your viewing pleasure.








Obviously I won't be shooting for a while lol

[Hammer_Man]

Ouch brother! I feel your pain, I broke my collar bone snow boarding back in High School, but my break wasn't as bad as yours. I'm sure if you take the time to allow it to heal completely it will be fine.

[sig1473]

That sucks man. Hope you have a speedy recovery. If you're a righty, you might have to switch to being a lefty for rifles or vice versa.

[FlyAndFight]

That sucks man. Hope you have a speedy recovery. If you're a righty, you might have to switch to being a lefty for rifles or vice versa.

I broke my collar bone playing football back in my high school days but it was just in one spot. Nothing as serious as your injury. I don't have any issues shooting rifle or shotgun but again, the injury was not as bad as yours. I will say that mine didn't heal perfectly, as I can feel where the bone fused together but not perfectly. Slight bump...

[directimpingement]

While I haven't "shattered" mine, I have broke it twice in the same area, and I have no issues. Mine never got reset and had a plate screwed in like you've had, so I have a "drop off" (for lack of a better term) of about 3/4" from the part of the bone towards my sternum and the part of the bone towards the shoulder. They literally overlapped and were left to heal like that for some reason.

I shoot a .338 win mag and do not or haven't ever had any issues. The last time it was broke was 17 years ago, so it's been awhile. I'd say once it's fully healed you'll be fine.

[Krazykarl]

Make sure you do your PT. Your shoulder stability is dependent on muscular tone. Your chest, shoulder, and upper arm muscles will handle the recoil well enough once you have healed. In the mean time, find an old pair of jeans and cut off the legs. Make a sandbag that you can drape over your shoulder. Don't fill it too full as you want just enough sand so that you can shoulder the rifle comfortably. The sand bag will spread the recoil force out instead of concentrating it to a single point. Sand bag also adds weight to the rifle reducing recoil force. Trust me on this. My 510 Wells with 120 pounds of recoil is very manageable this way.

[5.56 Bonded SP]

Make sure you do your PT. Your shoulder stability is dependent on muscular tone. Your chest, shoulder, and upper arm muscles will handle the recoil well enough once you have healed. In the mean time, find an old pair of jeans and cut off the legs. Make a sandbag that you can drape over your shoulder. Don't fill it too full as you want just enough sand so that you can shoulder the rifle comfortably. The sand bag will spread the recoil force out instead of concentrating it to a single point. Sand bag also adds weight to the rifle reducing recoil force. Trust me on this. My 510 Wells with 120 pounds of recoil is very manageable this way.

That is a genius idea, thank you. I never would of thought of that.

[vandal5]

Ouch!
That looks much worse than mine. Hope you recover quickly.

I broke my left collar bone twice in basically the same spot while in my early teens. First time it didn't separate and we just let it heal (atv crash). The 2nd time it did separate and I got a plate with 2 screws on each side (little short on a double while racing MX). Now almost 40 it doesn't bother me at all. I think the most discomfort after healing was I could feel my seat belt on the screws when I started driving.

What bothers me more is stretching the ligaments out on the end of my right collarbone from a fall when snowboarding. Now my right sholder gives me more trouble. Still uncomfortable when reaching certain directions, or laying on a hard surface like a floor.

Good luck and like mentioned above take the PT seriously.

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[Campbell]

That a serious fracture, and while I’m sure you’ll live, I would be up front with your surgeon regarding your limitations down the road.
Specifically the recoil ft/lbs in whatever your wondering about... 300 win mag is one thing, 416 Rigby is another. Trust your doctor, not some internet dick that thinks he was smart enough to get through med school 😀
Good luck on recovery, be patient/smart.

[C-grunt]

My good buddy had a very similar break and has the titanium plate as well. He hasnt complained about rifle/shotgun recoil. However I will tell you he took a long time to get back to 100 percent.

I should talk to him in the next couple days. Ill bring it up and see what he says.