While snowboarding last Tuesday I gave myself a grade III AC joint separation. Check out the photo of my messed up clavicle!
For those who have done the same, let’s hear your story. How long did it take to heal? How long to get back into your sport, or back to benching and lifting upper body? Did you get surgery?
My ortho said I won’t need surgery, but my left shoulder is pretty much going to be f-ed up looking for the rest of my life, unless I want to get cut up to fix it.
I had the same thing from a bjj tournament back in 04. I did my own rehab and I was back on the mats in about 3 months with no surgery. I first worked on getting the range of motion back, which took about a week. Then I started doing some light pressing with as much weight as I could handle with no pain. I just kept adding weight each week until it was fixed.
My clavicle still looks weird, worse than yours, but it makes for good conversation and stuff, doesn’t bother me at all. Good thing is I have no issues at all and haven’t since it healed and no surgery.
I did the same thing in football. No surgery and really no rehab because I was fucking stupid. Mine took probably 3 months to be back to full use, consequently. Some bone spurs developed over time, so it’s irratated sometimes but not serious.
Just take your time and let it heal up. Do some cuff and mobility work when it’s healed and you should be good as new.
Tough to be patient with feet of fresh powder out here.
Still having some pain with ROM. Guess I’m getting anxious and should just wait to fully heal
Bummed about not doing dips anymore
I still do extremely deep dips, on rings even. My torn ac shoulder is just as good as my other one.
[quote]1000rippedbuff wrote:
I still do extremely deep dips, on rings even. My torn ac shoulder is just as good as my other one.[/quote]
Cressy wrote that dips should be out of the picture after an AC separation. I’m inclined to follow his advice but if you’re doing them no problem maybe I’ll give it a shot after I’m healed.
Im assuming that your pain tolerance is higher than mine since you do BJJ, but how much did you have to push through the pain to get your ROM back?almost a week since I did it and it still hurts like hell!
What I have done with athletes in the past for AC separations/sprains go along with what several other people have recommended. Control the inflammatory response at the injury site, work on increasing ROM, and then progress to strengthening exercises. I generally have my athlete’s avoid heavy overhead pressing, barbell benching, and dips initially. I alternate DB benching with a neutral grip or lockouts/floor presses. As the tissues scars down and the clavicle becomes more stable, I will begin to allow dips and light barbell bench work as long as they have full ROM and the motion is (relatively) pain free.
From my personal experience, I have found that taping down the clavicle helps the athlete progress quicker with a slight decrease in pain and helps the tissue scar down quicker and decrease the deformation of the clavicle.
I suggest getting some strong, adherent athletic tape. Regular J&J white tape really won’t do. I would recommend going with Leukotape or an equal substitute (I believe there is one called Jaybird and Mais Jaystrap Woven Rayon Tape) which is might tougher and have a better tensile strength. You will also want to get some adhesive spray/liquid (I’d recommend Cramer Tuf-Skin), so the tape will stay on throughout the day, and some Cover Roll adhesive bandage, which will be placed under the leukotape. The Cover Roll isn’t completely necessary, but I highly recommend it. I find it helps hold the tape on better, as well as saves the skin from irritation and being torn off when removing the Leukotape.
First, spray the skin with the Tuf-Skin and allow to begin drying. When you touch the skin it should feel pretty sticky. Then cut a piece of the Cover Roll so that it is large enough to cover the posterior aspect towards the anterior aspect of the shoulder while covering the AC joint. Then take the Leukotape and starting partially on the skin and on the anterior aspect of the shoulder, pull the tape back and over the AC joint. The athlete can lean into the tape as it is pulled over the AC joint for added pressure. You should feel the tape pull the clavicle back down close to its correct position. Place 2-4 strips of the leukotape over the AC joint at different angles.
I would definitely do this before doing any activities and exercises, and advise wearing one throughout the day as well. If you are going to wear one throughout the day, I would do separate tapings for activity and to wear throughout the rest of the day. I have no clinical studies or proof other than my own experiences (which have had good results) and that if you bring damaged tissue closer together, it will help with bridging and healing that tissue.
I will try to find a picture of the taping procedure if anybody is interested. Feel free to ask questions if I didn’t explain anything well enough. Best of luck.
Separated mine about 10 years ago now playing football. Partial rotator cuff tear at the same. I had surgery then to remove a bone spur and some scar tissue.
Mine used to look a lot like yours when I was a few pounds skinnier. Some added muscle really helps to hide the deformity. I have also separated my sternoclavicular joint doing incline presses. I think that would have been 5-6 years ago. It now sticks out from my sternum quite a bit. I haven’t done an incline press with a barbell since.
I’ve also had multiple subluxations (lost count), but luckily I have never fully dislocated it.
I still have regular pain in that shoulder, but you learn to manage it. Dips actually bother me the least. I have to be careful with bench press and overhead press. I usually bench for 6 weeks or so and then stay away from it.
I am doing a low rep program now because it has felt good lately, but typically I stay in the 8-12 rep range. Dumbbell pressing in any plane is usually ok, so I do that quite a bit. You just have to figure out which lifts work for you, and if something hurts quit doing it.
That’s been the hardest thing for me because there are times where I just have to give up pressing movements completely, but that seems to be the best thing to do to maintain long-term gains.
[quote]Most Major wrote:
1000rippedbuff wrote:
I still do extremely deep dips, on rings even. My torn ac shoulder is just as good as my other one.
Cressy wrote that dips should be out of the picture after an AC separation. I’m inclined to follow his advice but if you’re doing them no problem maybe I’ll give it a shot after I’m healed.
Im assuming that your pain tolerance is higher than mine since you do BJJ, but how much did you have to push through the pain to get your ROM back?almost a week since I did it and it still hurts like hell! [/quote]
I just tried to push it further than it wanted to, kind of like when you stretch. It’ll hurt, but you have to keep the scar tissue from building up and, at least for me, the range of motion quickly came back.
I did have pain for a few months following, but it would only be when I would bear too much weight on it. Other than that, I just built it up with weights like anybody working out would, keeping the weight low enough to allow no pain, full ROM, progressive resistance. Mine still looks bad, but it is just as good as the other one. Mine actually looks worse than yours, even 5 years later. There is literally no limitations for me on mine. I can still do all exercises on rings, including muscle ups with no problem and I have no issues in kickboxing, bjj, or wrestling.
Don’t limit yourself to doing certain things just because someone says so. See what you’re still capable of. No reason to to sideline anything just because so-and-so said so.
