Clavicle Break: Week 9 (August 18, 2018 - August 24, 2018)

Pain Level: 1, occasional ibuprofen.
Discomfort: 1-4
Attire: Normal.
Sleeping: Bed.
Nutrition: Weight loss caloric intake, with supplements geared towards bone regrowth.
Mobility: Getting around normally, but still being careful.
Physical Therapy: 5lb range of motion exercises.

I skipped my Saturday light intensity spin session - I just wasn't feeling it, and we had a late night with our 5 year old anyway.  I did get up Sunday and rocked a 60 minute session after a careful night's sleep.  As hoped, there was no pain Sunday morning after Saturday's soreness, though the collar bone still felt "sticky" as they say.  I think that's reasonable evidence that how I sleep makes a huge difference.

The rest of the week saw my normal Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday sessions, each one going very well.

I have to admit, at the beginning of the week I was starting to worry about how well was healing. I would have expected the stickiness to dissipate more by this point.  I  started wondering if the regular daily movement I'm subjecting the shoulder to, including physical therapy, was getting in the way of hard fibrous material forming.  So I did some additional and closer reading of what I could find online, and decided to relax a little.  8 weeks is too soon to start getting impatient with healing.  I'd know more during my final follow-up X-Rays on 9/19... unless something happens to cause obvious re-injury, that is.

Towards the end of the week the pain and discomfort continued to slowly dwindle.  It's hard to say it's getting better day to day, but the 2-3 week rolling average shows improvement.  Maybe there's nothing to worry about, and things are going the way they should be.

More than my actual shoulder, it's the ribs and back I'm worried about.  I can't tell if it's tight muscles, or something else.  Either way, by the end of the day, laying down for the night is a notable relief.  It's like there's something there that, if I were only to stretch it out just the right way, everything would snap back into place.  I'll keep monitoring it and ask the PT about it if it continues.

Aside from that, as I'm looking forward I think I'm going to try to plan some strength training back into things as well.  I'm not interested in taking my cycling to a level that would require me being emaciated except for the legs.  Rather, I'm interested in being generally fit all around, but with an emphasis on cycling performance.  Upper body mass, frowned upon by the more elite cyclists, not only won't phase me, but is actually (especially now) that much more attractive.  I don't want to sacrifice my cycling fitness... I just want to add more body strength.  That balancing act will be the tricky part.

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