For most patients, open heart surgery recovery ^[1] is filled with pain.

Pain levels vary, so the medical community developed pain scales to help patients better communicate with their medical team in the hospital and during cardiac rehabilitation ^[2]. If you are a future patient, be prepared to see something similar to the pain scale example below.

The location of the pain can also vary. During the past week, I received emails from patients complaining about pain in their shoulders ^[3], arms, legs, and, of course, the chest.

Last night, I received an email from Fazilat about her collarbone. She writes, “Hello Adam. My name is Fazilat and I live in the United Kingdom. My question to you is… I am nine weeks post-op. Over the last two weeks, I have had severe pain around the collar bone area. The pain comes and goes but stops me in my tracks. I am not sure if this typical or common for patients during heart surgery recovery? Or, do I have a problem. I started a cardiac rehab program but I had to stop due to the pain. Any thoughts?”

MY EMAIL RESPONSE TO FAZILAT REGARDING COLLARBONE PAIN:

Hi Fazilat,

Thanks for writing and sharing your story.

So you know, I had pain around my collarbone area as well. In fact, the pain remained with me for the first nine months after surgery. However, most of the discomfort slowly deteriorated during/after my cardiac rehab program ^[2].

I know that cardiac rehab can be painful and challenging. Trust me. There were many times I did not want to go back to Torrance Memorial Hospital for my cardiac rehabilitation sessions. But, as I have previously written, my surgeon (Dr. Vaughn Starnes) ^[4] had some very good insight specific to managing pain after heart valve replacement surgery. Doctor Starnes suggested that I “play through the pain”.

Guess what? Doctor Starnes was incredibly accurate with that statement. Remember, your body has experienced significant musculoskeletal trauma ^[5]. There will be discomfort during the recovery. However, it is critical that you leverage the cardiac rehab program to help manage the pain and re-animate your chest and minimize collarbone discomfort.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Keep on tickin!