AC Joint dislocation (Surgery & Non-surgery) feedback.

[Dexter-morgan]

8 hours ago, Schuits said:

I recently had a fall. X rays showed  no breaks. But now I have a pretty large protusion on my shoulder. Probably an AC dislocation  of some grade. It took about a month to settle down, but I'm cycling again. I notice some loss of strength in that arm, nothing major, just some weakness and stiffness after cycling. My only concern us it getting worse. Without spending $$$ on doctors is this something that can generally be left to nature to heal?

 

I went the surgical route and the "wire" came loose again but with some basic band exercises, all good again, back at mountain biking, General gym work all good and the protrusion on my should is much smaller, although I was in a sling for 3 months. 

[MORNE]

I had a pretty bad posterior shoulder dislocation in 2020 but the covid nonsense being what it was, i was never allowed to go for the MRI, in that time it was considered ‘non essential’, so they couldn't asses the bone damage they saw on the sonar and were considering for repair. The Doc smirked, giggled almost, and proceeded to call his intern to come look at this mess ‘you don't see everyday’ 🤪. He later also said they love mtbikers haha. go figure.
The ball of my shoulder pushed past my shoulder blade out the back and they basically keyed a nice deep V. Something like that. Their worry was that bone can ‘die’ if the damage is severe enough. Also that there might be ligament damage dur to the ‘cut’. Im not a doctor. 🤷‍♂️

I downloaded some random shoulder dislocation rehab document i found on the web, wore my sling for a while and did the stretches, slowly working up to a pushup. I tried using it as much as possible. It was stiff and numb with limited mobility for a few months and i couldn't do any heavy lifting with it for quite a while.
But it’s fine now. I guess time will tell if the bone damage amounted to anything 😂 
It hasn't done me any favours ito confidence on the bike though.

Edited September 21, 2022 by MORNE

[Schuits]

8 hours ago, Murrob said:

I had something very similar, ignored it initially which made it much worse over longer term. It’s now taken significant effort to rehab and get strength back. It’s worth a few visits to a good physio and get them to loosen whatever has tightened up to protect the shoulder. Then a combination of exercises and stretching has seen me make great progress, nothing crazy, couple of stretches daily after shower and some normal exercises after activating the shoulder with stretch bands. 

Thank you for the advice. That is my concern that it may get worse. I'll go see a physio and take it from there.

[Schuits]

1 hour ago, Dexter-morgan said:

I went the surgical route and the "wire" came loose again but with some basic band exercises, all good again, back at mountain biking, General gym work all good and the protrusion on my should is much smaller, although I was in a sling for 3 months. 

That sux that the surgery didn't work as planned. I've read its kind of a 50/50 situation. I'm glad you've healed up though.

[Schuits]

15 minutes ago, MORNE said:

I had a pretty bad posterior shoulder dislocation in 2020 but the covid nonsense being what it was, i was never allowed to go for the MRI, in that time it was considered ‘non essential’, so they couldn't asses the bone damage they saw on the sonar and were considering for repair. The Doc smirked, giggled almost, and proceeded to call his intern to come look at this mess ‘you don't see everyday’ 🤪. He later also said they love mtbikers haha. go figure.
The ball of my shoulder pushed past my shoulder blade out the back and they basically keyed a nice deep V. Something like that. Their worry was that bone can ‘die’ if the damage is severe enough. Also that there might be ligament damage dur to the ‘cut’. Im not a doctor. 🤷‍♂️

I downloaded some random shoulder dislocation rehab document i found on the web, wore my sling for a while and did the stretches, slowly working up to a pushup. I tried using it as much as possible. It was stiff and numb with limited mobility for a few months and i couldn't do any heavy lifting with it for quite a while.
But it’s fine now. I guess time will tell if the bone damage amounted to anything 😂 
It hasn't done me any favours ito confidence on the bike though.

Sheesh sounds like you did a real number on your shoulder! Even the guy at the MTB shop said yeah, common injury for us MTB'ers.

In my case I attempted a drop off, with way to low tyre pressures and also landed in a rut...so I went down. My confidence is also a bit shot, I need to realise I'm not a spring chicken anymore (43) so I'm avoiding most of the ramps and stuff.(also my wife will kill me if I wiped out again)

[MORNE]

6 minutes ago, Schuits said:

Sheesh sounds like you did a real number on your shoulder! Even the guy at the MTB shop said yeah, common injury for us MTB'ers.

In my case I attempted a drop off, with way to low tyre pressures and also landed in a rut...so I went down. My confidence is also a bit shot, I need to realise I'm not a spring chicken anymore (43) so I'm avoiding most of the ramps and stuff.(also my wife will kill me if I wiped out again)

Haha, same. Pushing 40 and having responsibilities means you cant just ‘send it’ and hope for the best. But its fine, you can still have fun without doing a Brandon Semenuk over every little bump imo.
The way I fell that time means im currently k@k scared of anything remotely loose and and off-camber too. 

[Dexter-morgan]

Now you guys are making me feel old, just past 50

[Frosty]

Last year as a Vet; Some people get their Masters in their 20s... me, I have to wait for 50.

[Martin Khoury]

Hi

i had a grade 4 dislocation of AC jt after a fall off my bike mid Feb this year. Complete disruption of capsule of AC jt, stabilising ligaments, and deltoid and trapezius muscles off their insertions was identified.

Had surgery, synthetic tendon grafts (bow tie loops) to stabilise jt, reattached ligaments  and torn muscles and fascia, and then 3 months off work (Im a Chiropractor).

Now working on gym to strengthen and will be back on bike soon as confidence took a big knock.

Whatever choice you make, best of luck, surgery was absolutely necessary in my case because of the extent of damage incurred.

Currently about 80% recovered, strength and full range still recovering.

Current research shows that grade 3 can be conservatively managed but a grade4 depends on individual circumstances so a decision must be carefully considered.