Shoulder separation

[Z-Man]

I had a type III shoulder separation today. Anyone here ever dealt with rehabbing one of those?

 

Also, my 20 year-old touring bike suffered catastrophic failure on smooth, even paved trail. Any ideas on how to avoid such unexpected and painful disasters in the future?

 

 

 

 

[Jim]

Ouch! Sorry about that mate. With a well used, 20 yr old bike metal fagigue is not out of the question - it happens.

 

I had a Level II seperation after having a wheel suck in a RR track at 20 mph - that wasn't pretty. After a year of PT and I still couldn't lift my arm above my shoulder w/o significant pain my doctor recommended a Distal Clavicle Resection.

 

Me: What's that

Doc: We saw off the last 3 inches of your clavicle.

Me: What about that joint function?

Doc: Oh, that's a useless non-weight bearing joint.

 

I went for a second opinion - and it was the same. Had the operation and never looked back. Sometimes I forget which shoulder it was - except for the cool lighting bolt scar.

 

The docs said that Level II's can be the worse as they are difficult to heal. If your bump from the Level III isn't too bad they may just suggest PT and I've heard there is a good success rate. Gone to an orthopedic yet?

[dfrost]

Grade 3 separation of L shoulder years ago: had surgery to repair the ligament one month afterwards (July), spent 6 weeks with the screw in, did slow rehab for 2 months after the screw came out (Dec), seemed normal by January.

 

Grade 2 separation of R shoulder last April: took 6 weeks OFF (no climbing, no pack carrying, nothing) and started back slow. By August, I couldnt tell there had ever been a problem, even while carrying a heavy pack.

 

[Z-Man]

Good to hear of the eventual positive outcome. I had an ortho consult in the er, he told me pretty much what you guys said, except for the clavicle resection, that's a new one to me.

 

I am still dismayed by what happened to my bike though, haven't ever had any problems, and had no signs of impending failure. I couldn't tell if the axle or fork is what initially failed. What is the life span of what I thought to be a durable aluminum frame?

[Jim]

Good luck with the shoulder.

 

Generally, aluminum fatigues after less stress cycles than steel, which is why a aluminum tube needs to be of greater diameter than a comparable steel tube. It's all in the quality of frame making, however. I've just found aluminum frames much stiffer with a higher transfer of road vibration for my liking.

 

I've had more than one axle break with little consequence

[rob]

Um, is that really an aluminum frame? I'm pretty sure it's not. That looks like a steel frame to me, I can even see the Reynolds 531 sticker on the seat tube.

 

This kind of failure is NOT common, btw, not even on a 20 year old bike. Especially a steel bike.

 

Was that fork previously damaged in a crash?

[Z-Man]

you're right, its a reynolds 531 steel frame, shows how much i know about bikes.

 

I bought it used a couple years ago so don't know its complete history, but I wasn't able to find anything wrong with it at the time, and haven't had any big crashes myself.

 

I'm trying to imagine how the forks could get damaged enough to bend previously without my noticing...

[jon]

It's hard to tell from the picture, but your skewer shouldn't shear off like that, so that was likely the point of failure. Are the threads on it stripped off or did it snap?

[Z-Man]

The axle sheared, but I couldn't find all the pieces so the threads may have stripped also. What's the lifespan of a quick-release skewer?

[rob]

Wait, the axle sheared? Or do you mean just the skewer? The quick-release skewer slides into a hollow axle inside the wheel itself.

 

The reason I ask is it looks like part of the wheel cone is stuck to the quick-release skewer (on the inside of the fork in picture 1 & 2). My guess is the wheel axle failed.

 

Do you have any pics of the wheel, the wheel hub, and the remaining skewer? Also, was the skewer on tight? The axle in the wheel hub relies on compression from the QR skewer to prevent it from breaking. (I notice that the skewer in this picture is in the "open" position).

Edited June 16, 2011 by rob

[Z-Man]

It was the skewer that broke, not the axle sorry.

 

The skewer is not in the position I found it in, I stuck it on the fork to show what an angle it got bent to. It came apart into several pieces, so I'm not sure what position things were in before the accident. But I don't think I've been riding around on a loose wheel for the last few weeks since the last time I had to take the wheel off to fit it in my trunk.

 

I don't have a pic of the wheel hub.

 

It sounds like there are several components that could have failed that I should have been paying more close attention to on a weekly basis.

[jon]

Did it break or strip? It looks like from the picture the skewer stripped since I can see the threads. If the skewer is too short and does not thread completely into the nut it is more likely strip because you are increasing the load onto each thread.