Hi guys, I’m relatively new to mtb. I was riding blue and black diamonds last year before I crashed and broke my collarbone on 29th October 2023. No plate. Then I went on a sketchy snowboard ride and broke the same bone in late January 2024. This time the bone didn’t line up well so I got a plate in. I did decent in recovery, did rehab and trained for a Spartan Race as a means to get my shoulder performance back. I’m back riding now (since Aug 2024) and doesn’t have any problem with said shoulder. I’m still contemplating removing the plate though. My body is very aware of its presence.
I did some searches but didn’t see a post where people share testimonies about long term condition (1-2 years and more post surgery from both sides). Not as a dedicated post for mtb community anyway. I hope this could be something useful for people to come back to in the future. Sorry if there’s already one out there.
by TeamNatty
5 Comments
Not me but a riding partner was 100% glad he removed his plates.
I’ve had my plates (yes two… on one side) in for over 10 years. The first year or two my body was definitely aware. Over time I’ve mostly forgotten they are there. I go backpacking, workout, etc.
The only time they are annoying is doing certain lifting exercises with a bar where you essentially place the bar on your collar bones. I just do a different grip and it’s fine.
From the research I did, there was no real benefit to getting the plates out, and it would require significantly more healing time to ensure the bones grew back from the 12 screw holes…
I thought plates don’t come out nowadays due to risk of infection? (easier to remove, but open wounds are always a risk. They’ll only really risk it if you have psychological issues about having the plate inside you that could lead to living issues.
Yeah… definitely read that as “testicles: clavicle plate in vs out”
Not sure the testicle bone is connected to the clavicle bone. 😆
Depends how old you are – the screw holes take a lot longer to “fill in” if you’re older. I got mine out after 1 year of it in, I was ~20 at the time and I’m so glad I did. The plate bothered me quite a bit