Can you function without a collarbone?

Yes, if you're a cat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleidocranial_dysostosis You can be born without a collarbone. From the wikipedia article (so consider with salt) it sounds like you can lead a normal life. But I guess it evolved there for a reason.

Im sure a surgeon told me the options were,either I got a plate on my broken collarbone, or left the ends flapping about.

Presumably you didn't have a plate fitted, have you managed okay? That should answer your question.

But I guess it evolved there for a reason.<br />

I believe it’s an evolutionary hold over from our four legged ancestors, and so isn’t needed any more.

OP, not my area of specialty, but I’m pretty sure you’re right. The reason to fix them is for pain, or if required to protect the integrity of the overlying skin.

Don't listen to @kramer. He thinks you need to take everything off (including ya pants) to change the hoods on STI's. 😁

So,is it ok not to have a collarbone, and if so, what would you be able to do/not do?

I understand you are better able to squeeze through air vents if you don't have them.

I believe it’s an evolutionary hold over from our four legged ancestors, and so isn’t needed any more.

But isn't the shoulder bone connected to the neck bone and the neck bone connected to the head bone?

Is this related to the Marilyn Manson rumour?

I'm in exactly the same situation.  Broken 3 months ago and hasn't started to knit together.  The specialist said to do what I want now, but I can't lift anything, my arm won't go above shoulder level and it still hurts! I was badly advised initially, being told to keep a sling on for 8 weeks which just resulted in a frozen shoulder which is now just as bad as the collarbone.  I only started to drive again last week and am thinking of having a spin on my road bike tomorrow for the first time.  If it doesn't improve soon I think I'll have the op.

I worked with someone who’d had a non-union of his collarbone following a bike crash 20 odd years ago. Not sure if he had full range of movement but it didn’t stop him riding.

Didn’t look pretty but I’m sure he said the ends had fibrosed down so they weren’t flapping about.

If memory serves Mrs @FunkyDunc is an orthopod and will know the answer to this.

@failed engineer
mine took 2or3 years to heal, im getting older. I had a plate in after 6months but broke a screw and the bone didnt heal so had another plate put in a year ago. It was mostly healed then. I would get the surgery

I'm 68, so I wasn't expecting to be riding round Phillip Island at 200 mph within a week (as seems to be the norm for Moto GP riders!).  However, I wish I'd had the op straight away.  The specialist seemed to hint that there was a very long waiting list, but I was told recently that it's only 2 weeks!  I don't know what to do, me.  Whereabouts are you?  I wonder if it was the same chap who told me it was OK if it didn't heal.

When my collarbone refused to heal, I got bored waiting for the surgery and returned to riding. Started slowly, mostly one handed then eventually two handed.
I also returned to work in between and found myself using my right hand to put my left above my head if I was working on something above shoulder height.
Whilst you can adapt to injury and overcome, it’s not ideal.

My collarbone was stitched together as the break was close to the joint. It was then in a body sling for 6 weeks I wasn’t allowed to remove at any time.
After the sling was off, it was actually pretty good surprisingly.

I was badly advised initially, being told to keep a sling on for 8 weeks which just resulted in a frozen shoulder

JFC!

Im about the same age, the 1st surgery was in milton keynes, so must have been there. I have the name somewhere
Also, once on the list it didnt take long to do, even in covid

A few years ago I had a big tank-slapper, blue lights and week in hospital. A broken collar bone was one of several things the hospital just dealt with (thank you NHS!). I've got a titanium plate and several screws in the shoulder. With the surgery and physio it's fully recovered but it took 6-12 months.

Jockeys can have the middle third removed. They break it that often according to my surgeon. Mine is separated at the AC joint and serves no purpose. Its fine.

My brother had one of his kemoved 40+ years ago, he does fine.

Broke mine 9 years ago. Bone separation was less than the level for automatic for plating and recommended by the ER doc and ortho consultant in Canada to let it heal normally. Given a figure of eight sling and arm sling. Was there a week before flying home and went into UK system when I came home. Same opinion from ortho here, but they said to ditch the slings as soon as pain allowed and use it as much as I could to help retain movement. 6 week appointment showed the bones weren’t joining and probably wouldn’t at that stage. Was told I could ask for surgery or wait and see if it was giving any problems. Given a years open appointment but never asked for the surgery. My reasoning was that I had no pain from it and my range of movement was as good if not better than my good shoulder. Plating not without risk, initially or later. Doesn’t look pretty and I did have to get some physio for it a few years ago due to pain. I’d been riding lots and not doing my usual gym work and think I just over stressed it. Physio exercises sorted it within a few weeks and my current upper body program was designed by PT to help stabilise shoulder area. I think the early movement was good for maintaining range of movement but sometimes wonder if I should have kept wearing the figure of eight for longer. 

Mine is dislocated at the chest plate end on one side, I've only found one problem, diving into a pool I had no control over my arm being pushed across my chest. So now I have to join my hands to provide the cross ways support. Aside from that it's not caused me any concern, no fracture though just a popping out of the joint about 30 years ago.

Presumably you can only wear tshirts from then on.

Broke mine in 4 places a few years back, they were in no way aligned, but doctor said to leave it, i ended up being able to use the arm quickly and do stuff, ortho surgeon was surprised as he thought it wouldn't heal, unfortunately he was half right, i have a non-union and a mal-union break still in that collarbone, yes i can have surgery, which involved breaking the collarbone, shaving the abnormal growth and plating, which would mean months out of doing stuff again.

Other option was just leave it as is, live with the slightly weaker arm, and if i fall off and it goes bang again they'll do the work then.

Plenty of MPs function without a backbone so not having a collar bone would be a minor inconvenience, one imagines

Broke mine in 4 places a few years back

I'd stop going to those places.

I’d stop going to those places.

Just had my hip replaced so definitely not going to those places any time soon!

I’ve read about broken collar bones after bike offs, and the pain and discomfort as a result, but never thought about having it happen. Anyway, about ten, twelve years, maybe slightly more, ago, coming down the Herepath into Avebury from a ride out on the Ridgeway one December, I got stuck in one of the deep furrows left by the tractors and went sideways. Slammed my left shoulder into the side of my head hard enough to literally make my ears ring!

My shoulder hurt a bit, especially if I picked a bag like a rucksack up a bit awkwardly, but didn’t think too much about it. It was a bit painful at times so I saw my doctor who poked around a bit, shrugged and said, well, you’ve done something, but you’re getting older, so what do you expect. (He said the same thing about my knee after an off, and it turned out I had osteoarthritis at the impact point… 🤷🏼).

Anyway, I stopped noticing the slight discomfort by August and never really thought about it again.
Recently I was strimming my head, and noticed I had an odd lump on my left collarbone - seems I broke it and hadn’t realised, and my useless doctor didn’t either, which is why I ask for a different doctor these days.

I guess it should have been obvious, but I thought I’d wrenched the shoulder joint, because I’d landed on my elbow shoving my shoulder into the side of my head, so I spent nine months with a broken collarbone nagging at me!

The way I heard it explained was, if you never had them, you'd be fine. But after years of having 2, everything's used to it, all the musculature and movement and memory and reflex and such is grown around it so the impact of a big break/nonunion/whatevs in an adult is largely about the change rather than the bone, and also there's some muscular weirdness and adaptation requirement around having just one. No idea how true that all really is but it made sense to me considering how well some people function with them being basically a load of fragments, but equally how badly some people do

Mine is dislocated at the chest plate end on one side,

Same here. A really dangerous injury to occur (mine was caused by impact side on to the shoulder which could have led to the collarbone going through my windpipe), I've now lived with it for over 20 years without much issue

failedengineerFull Member
I’m in exactly the same situation.  Broken 3 months ago and hasn’t started to knit together.  The specialist said to do what I want now, but I can’t lift anything, my arm won’t go above shoulder level and it still hurts! I was badly advised initially, being told to keep a sling on for 8 weeks which just resulted in a frozen shoulder which is now just as bad as the collarbone.  I only started to drive again last week and am thinking of having a spin on my road bike tomorrow for the first time.  If it doesn’t improve soon I think I’ll have the op.

I had exactly this but it took over a year before i paid to go private. On doing to the doctor said, oh thats a good idea because im note of a knee man myself and somone might be able to help better!

Anyway. I got it plated. It wasn't done properly but ive never been back. Within 3 weeks i was on a bike and everything was much better.

Thanks for all the replies - it seems that it's perfectly possible to manage without surgery and even if you have surgery, it may not be 'perfect'.  I'll give it a few more weeks and then decide what to do, I think.