I am a 32 year old male. About 10 months ago, I broke my right clavicle during a hard fall at a team building event at work, pretty embarrassing actually. Left the bone convoluted in multiple pieces fairly badly which resulted in surgery to repair. Had surgery and had a plate installed with 12 screws. Since then, things have healed back and the plate is holding strong.
I still have a lot of nerve pain including numbness, BURNING, tingling and TIGHTNESS up and down my shoulder where the incision was made and goes as far down as my elbow and up my neck making it hard to turn my neck in certain directions. I try not to wear shirts when I can because the rubbing from the fabric really gets painful. Since this was a workmas comp case, getting consent care between the doctors has been a challenge and they repeatedly close my case out and have to reopen it every time I see the doctors. Sorry for the off topic additional info with workmans comp (they are horrible to deal with).
So I asking if anyone has had similar issues with plates and collar bones causing this type of complication? I was told by the surgeon the plate will most likely need to me removed but he wanted to wait for any additional healing to take place (up to a year and a half) I am also afraid if they go back in to remove it, will it possibly cause more pain over before.
I am 6 mos. post - clavicle surgery. constant pain and numbness but with some improvement. have been told it can take 2 years for resolution.
Good to know. Thanks for your response. To update, it turns out the plate itself had somehow got tangled around some nerve roots and muscle that was causing the extreme symptoms I had stated above. I had another surgery to have the plate removed and I am about a month post op from that. I still can't tell if the pain is any better overall, but I am still in quite a lot of pain.... Some days are manageable while others are absolutely horrible. I have a EMS unit to send stimulation to the area of pain with hopes these nerves will die down.
Good to know. Thanks for your response. To update, it turns out the plate itself had somehow got tangled around some nerve roots and muscle that was causing the extreme symptoms I had stated above. I had another surgery to have the plate removed and I am about a month post op from that. I still can't tell if the pain is any better overall, but I am still in quite a lot of pain.... Some days are manageable while others are absolutely horrible. I have a EMS unit to send stimulation to the area of pain with hopes these nerves will die down.
Thanks,
Chris
Best of luck. I am now over a year-in with basically the same issues. I was recently told that what I have will not get better. Basically the neurologist believes its a neuroma - on which an operation has approximately a 15% chance of removing the pain. The % was low because he wasn't sure he could locate the problem nerve/nerves and even if he did - operating on a neuroma is not necessarily a guaranteed fix. Obviously not the diagnosis I was looking for.
I have contemplated having the plate removed to see if it would make a difference...but wasn't sure it was worth the risk of another operation.
If not a problem, I would be very grateful if I could check back in with you in a few months to see how things are coming along. My sincerest best wishes for a recovery to something close to normal. I know this thing has been an awful experience for me that I wouldn't wish on anyone....
Just curious - how did they actually determine that the plate had gotten tangled around nerve roots and muscle? Was that a theory that was confirmed via the operation or was there some sort of imaging or test that was done prior to the operation that id'd this problem?
The neurologist I have been working with seemed dubious about his ability to actually figure out specifically what was causing the problem - never mind successfully operating on it.
Best of luck. I am now over a year-in with basically the same issues. I was recently told that what I have will not get better. Basically the neurologist believes its a neuroma - on which an operation has approximately a 15% chance of removing the pain. The % was low because he wasn't sure he could locate the problem nerve/nerves and even if he did - operating on a neuroma is not necessarily a guaranteed fix. Obviously not the diagnosis I was looking for.
I have contemplated having the plate removed to see if it would make a difference...but wasn't sure it was worth the risk of another operation.
If not a problem, I would be very grateful if I could check back in with you in a few months to see how things are coming along. My sincerest best wishes for a recovery to something close to normal. I know this thing has been an awful experience for me that I wouldn't wish on anyone....
Just curious - how did they actually determine that the plate had gotten tangled around nerve roots and muscle? Was that a theory that was confirmed via the operation or was there some sort of imaging or test that was done prior to the operation that id'd this problem?
The neurologist I have been working with seemed dubious about his ability to actually figure out specifically what was causing the problem - never mind successfully operating on it.
Wow, very interesting news for you also and thank you for sharing that. Also thanks for the encouragement and I also wish the best with your outcome. I am quite happy I can talk with another person like you that has the identical symptoms as it makes it easier to understand and cope with. The neurologist at the pain management clinic seemed to agree there is also an underlying condition such as neuroma as you had mentioned. The funny part is, this condition seems to have a mind of its own. As mentioned, I can manage it sometimes and other times, it's so bad I can't even function. In addition to using the EMS unit, I also had been taking medication (muscle relaxer and Tranadol ER) at night when I go to bed and also using a transdermal pain cream that a compounding pharmacy had to make. Even if they could operate on this to relieve the pain, I am so hesitant to go under the knife again and I have noticed more scar tissue this time and just like you said, it might not be a guaranteed fix......A though balance on which choice might outweigh the other. I am receiving continuing care since this is a workman’s comp claim which is good for some way because I am not paying anything.
To answer your question about determining that the plate had gotten tangled around nerve roots and muscle. I had gotten neuropathy symptoms that ran all the way down my arm into my hand that included muscle weakness shown from a recent EMG test where they send electrical singles to the muscles and measure the amplitude response back. It was shown that there was nerve entrapment. I also had an MRI but that proved to not show much and that's why there was so many confusing factors. If you have pain and numbness in your arm OR extreme pains that seem unusual with the collar bone pain area, I would recommend to have the EMG to make sure as nerves can be damaged permanently if the hardware continues to crush the nerve fibers as I was told from the doctors. I ended up collapsing from the pain in the doctor’s office and that led to them pushing the surgery very quickly to have the plate removed.
Please contact me anytime and please keep me posted on your progress as I would like to know how you are doing with your condition. I will absolutely keep you in the loop on my progress. Thank you again for sharing your story and interest. Not "many" people understand chronic pain and can ruin a person’s life and I appreciate the conversation.
My sincerest best wishes to you also for a solid road to recovery to put your life back to normal.
Thanks for the message...definitely, best of luck. these neuropathy conditions are no joke - and make you realize that your health is your wealth.
the numbness/pain I had stops at my upper bicep. Luckily, it didn't run down to my hand. I never experienced weakness from the nerve injury (although my arm was definitely weaker for quite awhile due to injuring my shoulder in the same accident that broke my collarbone)
Early on they determined that an EMG wouldn't be useful since the basic strength of my arm/ grip didn't appear to be impacted.
I also had an MRI on the area - partly to review my shoulder and rotator cuff which were injured. That didn't come back with any real info re: the neuropathy. however, the metal of the plate apparently would throw off the imaging - so it wasn't useful.
as for managing the pain I have tried several things. The TENS unit, lidocaine patches, gabapentin, lyrica, capcacin cream. similar to your description - for me its a constantly changing pain and discomfort..for a good stretch I was using lidocaine patches and they did seem to help. Particularly because clothing rubbing up against the area aggravates the condition. So covering it with a Lidocaine patch both numbed the area and also blocked clothing from making direct contact with the skin. however, I have gone on and off those patches because at times they seem to cause more symptoms. I had been using gabapentin for almost a year but just recently swithched to lyrica. it seems to be more effective. Although, I hate taking these medications - in my opinion they are effective at making the condition more tolerable. the tens unit was a change of pace - and at least provided a different type of fealing than pure pain/discomfort but ultimately it wasn't for me. the capcacin cream didn't do much for me....I may rotate back on to these options again to see if I respond differently.
the other strange thing about my particular deal is that the pain and discomfort is less severe when reclined and mostly goes away if I am lying flat on my back. If I stand up it immediately intensifies. Additionally, as the day goes on - it does get worse. The numbness is constant regardless of what position I am in.
Do you have any change in symptoms based on whether you are standing/ sitting, etc?
As I mentioned before, clothing aggravates the condition. However, I have found that instead of a lidocaine patch - a tighter fitting t-shirt underneath an outer shirt works better than something looser fitting.
Anyhow, long note - just thought I would pass this info along in the event that it was useful.
Again - best of luck on managing through this and getting back to normal. And like you, it's good to know that there is someone to bounce things off regarding these peculiar but very challenging set of symptoms we are dealing with.
I am receiving continuing care since this is a workman’s comp claim which is good for some way because I am not paying anything. 
