Recovery from AC joint injury and surgery

[mookins]

Hi,

I recently stuffed my shoulder riding, type III acromioclavicular (AC) joint separation. I had surgery, hook plate, to hold it in place while the tendons and whatever else is in there heal. 6 weeks from the operation I am to have the arm in a sling and I am not "fit to drive" which is a bit of pain. After three months I will require another surgery to remove the hook plate.
I have been told by the hospital physio that I won't be riding for 12 months!!! I find this a little hard to believe, but frighteningly possible. I can't comprehend the possibility of not being able to ride for that long.

Has anyone got any experience with these types of injuries, how long it took to recover, anything you can possibly do to help expediate it etc.

 

[Mywifesirrational]

12 months sounds pretty realistic to me, that's quite a bit of pre-surgery separation, hence a lot of soft tissue trauma.

Not much you can do besides wait, and take it very easy, the shoulder will start to feel better well before 12 months, but it wont be close to 100% and the chance of re-injury from too much strain or another crash is pretty high. The shoulder in general is going to become quite weak and perhaps unstable, which the physio will have calculated into the time period.

AC's are a tedious injury, not much can be done to speed up the process.

 

[rowdyflat]

Nah you could ride a bike way before that if you go gently so you dont fall on the point of the shoulder again.
It depends on your age , motivation and fitness.
So I would start with a road bike the handlebars a bit upright so not too much weight on that arm.
As for driving it depends on the traffic and if you have to change gears .

 

[discofrank]

Thats a nasty 1!

mine was about half of that

i did my r/h ac joint hitting a tree at 80kmhr or so on a motorbike....
( way before i started MTB )
4 weeks in sling, then another 3 months with the plate in before it was removed

was driving about the same time the plate was removed too

about 6 months after the plate was removed i started working in a liquor shop, so lots of lifting etc, did me the world of good

the one thing i know that aggravates MY injury is repetitive circular and back and forth motions of the shoulder ie washing/drying cars ( wax on wax off karate kid style) sanding back panels on a car, etc

have yet to find any isues with MTB, but im still a novice

remember every injury is different and so is each persons recovery and effect
listen up to the dr/physio medical staff and you will be back even better

wish you a speedy and painless recovery ( i was on opiate pain relief for a month! )

 

[cokeonspecialtwodollars]

I have had this injury on both sides, most recently the left AC Joint in December 2015. Both of mine were surgically repaired using the Tight Rope technique and I was fully active again in around eight weeks. Obviously your orthopedic surgeon has selected a particular procedure based on what would give the best outcome for you, trust their judgement and if you have any specific questions on your recovery then you should clarify that with them.

 

[Mrlinderman]

Shoulders are something you don't want to restrain while in recovery, I only bashed mine up a tiny bit, no fractures and its coming up to 3 weeks and I'm just starting to feel ok with periods of pain, i think 4 weeks for me will be key to start going back at it and that's after regular stretching and light weight exercises daily

Keep with the program and do everything the specialists say, the more you stick to the program the faster it will recover, don't get lazy like me and miss a day

 

[pink poodle]

Hi,

I recently stuffed my shoulder riding, type III acromioclavicular (AC) joint separation. I had surgery, hook plate, to hold it in place while the tendons and whatever else is in there heal. 6 weeks from the operation I am to have the arm in a sling and I am not "fit to drive" which is a bit of pain. After three months I will require another surgery to remove the hook plate.
I have been told by the hospital physio that I won't be riding for 12 months!!! I find this a little hard to believe, but frighteningly possible. I can't comprehend the possibility of not being able to ride for that long.

Has anyone got any experience with these types of injuries, how long it took to recover, anything you can possibly do to help expediate it etc.

View attachment 325071

I've done this both side. Right shoulder was accompanied by 3 breaks. There was surgery, some screws, and a hook plate. This stayed in for about a year. It was a huge pain in the arse! I couldn't mono the pushy or lift heavy stuff as the "downward" force on the hook applied a large amount of "upward" pressure on the screws...there was also reduced mobility of the shoulder. But wouldn't you know it...within days of that fucker coming out my shoulder felt good as new. I followed the doctors advice and waited patiently and bam! No issues. Couldn't be happier and would do again.

Left was a grade 3 like your, not operated on. I waited the 10ish weeks advised by hospital and it was fine. There are a few ongoing minor inconveniences (funky click every now and then, push up/chin up ability is reduced, and shirts fit funny), but nothing as a daily issue. Left arm gets a lot of work...I'm a left hander. This may all be exaggerated though as I crashed into a pole and broke my left collar bone first ride back from the tear. It was a crack rather than full split and healed funny.

 

[redbruce]

Hi,

I recently stuffed my shoulder riding, type III acromioclavicular (AC) joint separation. I had surgery, hook plate, to hold it in place while the tendons and whatever else is in there heal. 6 weeks from the operation I am to have the arm in a sling and I am not "fit to drive" which is a bit of pain. After three months I will require another surgery to remove the hook plate.
I have been told by the hospital physio that I won't be riding for 12 months!!! I find this a little hard to believe, but frighteningly possible. I can't comprehend the possibility of not being able to ride for that long.

Has anyone got any experience with these types of injuries, how long it took to recover, anything you can possibly do to help expediate it etc.

Been there done that in 2014. Frustrating, but, after initial optimistic denial, agree with MWI (caveat, or maybe excuse, I was 58 going on 40 at the time).

Was back on basic bike path rides around 8 months but regressed and returned at 10 months, much more capably. 12 months back on single track. If insurance involved, need physio sign off or no bananas.

"12 months sounds pretty realistic to me, that's quite a bit of pre-surgery separation, hence a lot of soft tissue trauma.

Not much you can do besides wait, and take it very easy, the shoulder will start to feel better well before 12 months, but it wont be close to 100% and the chance of re-injury from too much strain or another crash is pretty high. The shoulder in general is going to become quite weak and perhaps unstable, which the physio will have calculated into the time period.

AC's are a tedious injury, not much can be done to speed up the process.".

I'm told a few years (and fitness) can make a big difference, so factor that in.

 

[pink poodle]

^ with my right shoulder I was commuter riding after about 4 or 5 months, including up to the hospital for fracture clinic check ups. Unless I needed to wheelie up the gutter...oh man that hurt!

 

[Mattl]

I had a grade 3 AC shoulder seperation and a fractured scapula after coming off my bike and landing hard on my shoulder last May. The specialist advised against surgery and I just wore a sling for about 4 weeks and then started light physio which got more intensive when the bone had healed at 6 weeks. I bought a bike trainer straight away to maintain my fitness and was doing interval sessions using Trainer Road even when I was in a sling with one hand on the bars. After 6 weeks I took the roadie out for a few easy rides with no problems but it was a couple of months before I rode the mtb again. I'm a keen surfer too and was gutted that I was out of the water for most of the winter but when I started paddling again after about 12 weeks this really helped my shoulder recover. Training using gymnastic rings has also been great to build up my shoulders strength and stability and it wasn't until after doing push ups on rings for a few weeks that I was able to sleep on the injured shoulder again without pain. Anyway like most injuries good physio is the key to recovery and although I now have a very visible step in my shoulder the joint feels strong again and after 9 months I can do pull ups and lift weights etc with no issues.

 

[c3024446]

Found this thread, great info thanks guys. Hope you have all fully recovered. I did mine 4 weeks ago, grade III, no surgery and about 2/3 the distance of the first picture. Arm been out of sling for 2 days, certainly getting better every day, Holy crap the OP one had separated a long way, made me feel alot better about mine.