Hi Brett,

Sounds like the "hit-man" took a real hit !! Sorry to hear about the tendon injury, but it's great news that the ball socket is ok. FWIW I'd like to suggest some few things for you to consider: Just my guess that the ortho Dr. took X-rays, but not an MRI (they normally have to be scheduled at another site and it takes usually a week or 2 for non emergencies out of a hospital). Without an MRI the ortho Dr. can only surmise the actual condition of your tendons, ligaments etc. By the way his description of your collar bone "floating" seems extreme and odd, especially so if he only refered to tendons (tendons connect muscle to bone, but ligaments connect bone to bone, so BOTH and all would have to be "no longer connected") It is not usual for this to occur, short of some catastrophic injury such as a car wreck. The tendons and ligaments are tough somewhat elastic pieces of the body, they tend to sprain, and partially tear long before breaking, without an MRI this cannot be known for sure. I doubt the doc put your shoulder through the "torture" test required to "test" for this, due to your current condition of recent injury and the pain you're already in (if the doc feels the collar bone is only "floating" I suggest you call and confirm this diagnosis and if he confirms it, you should insist he do an MRI asap, there is no reason to put that off due to swelling). Anyway the upshot of all this is without an MRI, you should proceed on the basis that your tendons and ligaments are only sprained and torn in places, for now until the sweeling goes down use ICE (no heat yet) fill you ice bag all the way up (a mass of ice is reguired for proper effect) and leave the ice on till you are numb. Ice the injury several times a day and keep the ice on till the area is numb. Keep some form of ibruprofin (sp) in your blood at all times (it's great for reducing the swelling you have, but watch you stomach by taking the pills with food). When the swellings stopped feeling so tight and starts to subside, you can try mild (moist is best) heat for about 1/2 hour (don't cook yourself). Tendons and ligaments have very little blood flow and the heat is helpful to assist ciculation, so this is golden time for healing. Even though you are in pain and swelling it is a good idea to "flex" your arm muscles (gently) even now to keep from losong any more muscle mass now than you can avoid (any mass lost now will take a lot off effort later to regain, so keep all you can, even if it is only to maintain a minimum of movement now. Don't over do it, but try not to just leave that whole area immobile. But since you are already working on your boat (hats off to you) you are most likely going to be keeping moving. By the way I have wondered if you handle is a conscious tribute to Brett Hart the author, or are you just using your own name. I like him, and still remember his great stroy "Luck of roaring camp". Maybe you will have time during your recovery to read some of his stories (again:-).

Take care and hang in there, the body is able to heal up much better than you'd think and you'll get better and have a "good" shoulder again.

Arthur