Broken collarbone injury

leandra23xx

Hi everyone, I need some advice. My partner broke his collarbone about 10 days ago & will be having a metal plate put in, in 2 days time. He is quite conscious to lose weight & was working hard on this just prior to the accident. He mainly wants to lose weight on his stomach area. Can anybody advise the best way he can do this, by suitable exercise which will not cause any aggravation to the injury?
He is eating less calories as hes now sedentary but it would be good if he could still undertake some exercise...
Thanks...

RangeBoss

Sorry to hear he got hurt. That’s no fun.

Once he’s recovered enough, he can always walk on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike. That shouldn’t aggravate his injury. And he’s burning calories.

You can’t localize or Target a specific body area to lose fat. It kinda just melts away all over. Keep his calories burned higher than his calories consumed and he will get there.

And he’s lucky to have someone like you looking out for him. I hope all goes well.

sgt1372

I broke my rt collarbone about 30 yrs ago highsiding off a motorcycle at the race track.

I was THE most painful injury I've ever had (including 2 torn rotator cuffs and a 3 way tear in my left knee). They couldn't or wouldn't cast it. It just had to heal in pkace and and had to sleep upright in a hospital bed in my house for a month b4 I could even lift myself out of bed w/o pain. Every movement in my upper body hurt. So, I can't imagine how your partner could do (let alone consider doing) any exercise during his recovery.

So, I obviously have no suggestions other than taking sufficient time to recover b4 attempting any exercise again.

AnvilHead

I broke my collarbone 5 years ago, had a plate and seven screws surgically inserted. For about 6-8 weeks after the surgery, even the thought of exercise hurt (it was in a sling for the first 6 weeks). It hurt to sleep, it hurt to move that arm, it hurt to hold it still. I slept in a recliner chair for 6 weeks because it hurt too bad to lay down in bed. Basically, it sucked.

Three thoughts:

#1 - He shouldn't be trying to lose weight right now. When you're injured, your body needs adequate nutrient/energy intake to facilitate healing. Being in a deficit is detrimental to the healing process. He should be eating maintenance calories (at least) with a reasonably balanced diet, and worry about losing weight later. Healing is more important right now.

#2 - Let his pain (and the Doctor or PT's advice) be his guide for exercise. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and there was no way I was doing much of anything for quite a while. Even riding a recumbent bike jiggled it enough to make it painful. After 6 weeks I was able to let my arm hang straight down and swing it in little circles to start restoring movement, then gradually start doing "wall crawls" with my fingers to passively elevate the arm and work on range of motion. And even those exercises were no fun. It was about 16 weeks before I could do anything even remotely resembling decent exercise without a lot of pain/discomfort.

#3 - Broken collarbone or not, you can't preferentially lose weight from the stomach area (or any other area of the body). That's called "spot reduction" and it's not possible. You gain and lose weight according to your genetic fat distribution patterns and unfortunately, for males the midsection is often the last place you'll lose fat from. Once he's healed up he needs to eat at a reasonable deficit, get adequate protein intake and preferably engage in a good strength training program. The fat will eventually come off, but there's no exercise, food or supplement that allows you to target one particular area of the body.

AnvilHead

Actually, one more thought to add:

The doc is probably going to prescribe him painkillers for after the surgery. Mine did. I hate taking painkillers, so I tried to gut it out without using them. Big, BIG mistake, especially for the first 3 days. I thought maybe I could get through it with ibuprofen - I've probably never been more mistaken. Take the effing painkillers, exactly on the schedule they're prescribed for. Get off them as soon as possible, but the first 3 days after surgery really suck (if his is anything like mine was) and the painkillers were a godsend.

And (warning: TMI ahead) expect him to be more constipated than he's ever been in his life from the painkillers - it's a well-known side effect of opioids. A doctor friend of mine warned me about it and told me to drink lots of water. I did, but it still happened. I won't claim that I now know what it must feel like to give birth because that would be a completely ridiculous statement, but the experience must have been at least somewhat distantly related.

aokoye

AnvilHead wrote: »

Actually, one more thought to add:

The doc is probably going to prescribe him painkillers for after the surgery. Mine did. I hate taking painkillers, so I tried to gut it out without using them. Big, BIG mistake, especially for the first 3 days. I thought maybe I could get through it with ibuprofen - I've probably never been more mistaken. Take the effing painkillers, exactly on the schedule they're prescribed for. Get off them as soon as possible, but the first 3 days after surgery really suck (if his is anything like mine was) and the painkillers were a godsend.

And (warning: TMI ahead) expect him to be more constipated than he's ever been in his life from the painkillers - it's a well-known side effect of opioids. A doctor friend of mine warned me about it and told me to drink lots of water. I did, but it still happened. I won't claim that I now know what it must feel like to give birth because that would be a completely ridiculous statement, but the experience must have been at least somewhat distantly related.

Quoted for truth. While the closest thing I've had to a broken collar bone is a broken shoulder (more specifically the greater tuberosity - I'm currently healing from that one though it was a minor fracture all things considered), I have had a number of major surgeries, the last of which was in November. Staying on top of the pain is really important and can likely prevent prolonged use of pain meds (or at the very least get one to the point of getting off of them faster). Chasing the pain should be avoided and taking his meds on a schedule should prevent that. Have him set an alarm (or set an alarm for him). It's also been my experience that, in terms of pain related to surgery and bones, pain from the incision is more painful but the pain goes away relatively quickly (a matter of days), pain from bones breaking/getting broken and screwed together is less painful but takes far longer to go away.

And yes, he will get constipated, that's how it works if you're on opioids. All of the water in the world won't help with that but a gentle laxative will. The last two surgeries I had I used Senna and essnetially titrated up to the lowest dose that made a difference and titrated myself off of them as soon as possible. Do expect the constipation to last for slightly longer than your partner is on the opioids.

AnvilHead

aokoye wrote: »

...Staying on top of the pain is really important and can likely prevent prolonged use of pain meds (or at the very least get one to the point of getting off of them faster). Chasing the pain should be avoided and taking his meds on a schedule should prevent that. Have him set an alarm (or set an alarm for him)...

^Yes. That was another mistake I made. Mine said to take every four hours. If I felt good coming up on four hours, I'd wait until I started feeling the pain before I took another one. It's too late at that point and you're going to suffer unnecessarily for a while before it kicks back in (didn't take long to learn that lesson!). If it says "take every four hours", take them every four hours....as aokoye said, stay on top of the pain rather than chasing it.

KNoceros

@ aokoye. I completely sympathise with your situation. I also smashed up up greater humeral tuberosity a few months ago. Wound up having to have it plated and am still having physio to get my shoulder re-mobilised....

OP - if they offer your partner any sort of regional anaesthetic ("block") when he has his op, I strongly suggest he says yes. You may even got through the first 18-24hours without needing strong opioids and therefore not having the side effects. (Bear in mind block duration does vary depending on person, location, and what drugs are used to do the block)