This morning’s ride. Sandy dark strand. Go down. Concrete, meet Mr. shoulder. Fuck that hurts
ER doc said two weeks out of the pool (that seems fast), I’ll see what sports ortho says tomorrow and get more accurate diagnosis.
IMAZ April 13. New goal is not 12:30, new goal is get to starting line. I’m not worried about the swim, I could take 6 weeks off and still make 2:20. it’s the rest of it
Anyone gone through this? Any advice, words of wisdom?
my shoulder went though a mini van window last July. They told me it was a level 3 seperation. I was in a sling for 3 weeks, then rehab for another 4 after that. I tried swimming about 2 months later, which was a bad idea. Since then I stayed out of the pool until January 1st. Dont rush anything let your body COMPLETELY heal before you start stressing the joint again. Just my opinion.
did the doc give you a grade? I did a bad A-C separation in July and just got back to the bike and the run, still no pool. Of course I also required a full reconstruction. As long as you are a grade 1-2 you should heal pretty fast. take a week or two off and let it heal. gental stretch after that and try to keep the rubber side down next time.
good luck. I hope that it is as minor as the ER doc thought.
Class 3 A-C separation last year. Took me 30 days before I got back in the pool and it still twinges now and then but other than the ugly lump on my shoulder no problems. Actually running with it hurt longer than swimming…
Give it some time and you’ll be fine. I hear more bad than good about surgery, but I suppose it depends on the severity. (I am in no way a medical professional)
Steve
I see a lot of AC separations in my practice. Bottom line is that the time to recovery depends on the grade of separation. For type one and two, where you can barely see the clavicle pushing on the skin, the recovery can be as fast as you make it. If the pain is tolerable your not going to do any damage by trying to work out. For more displaced separations, surgery still usually isnt necessary, but the recovery is going to be much longer, possibly even 2-3 months until you are comfortable enough to swim/run.
I never regained full flexibility. Also, starts aching at more than 15K Meters/wk in the pool. Keeps me at 3/4 days week. does not seem to affect anything else.
Hopefully yours does not look like This
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yeah, it kinda looks like that. The ortho will grade it tomorrow, but pretty sure it ain’t a 1 or 2. Dammit,. IMAZ is definitely not looking good at this point… IM was a huge focus of my life for the last 14 weeks. This should be interesting
yeah, I did mine on the build to IMFL and needless to say I didn’t make it. I was graded as a 3 FWIW, but it turned out to be a lot more severe then the initial diagnosis. I waited 4 weeks before surgery to see if I was going to heal, and I think that was a good way to go. Even with as bad as it was by the end of that four weeks I was able to spend about half the day out of the sling and do a little pre-hab which helped me with my range of motion after.
If you have any questions after your Ortho visit just drop me a line. I did tons of research on different procedures before I went under the knife and am currently on the road to recovery.
good luck. I hope you will be able to bounce back fast.
I have had a Grade 3. Mine came from a little trip over the bars. I spent the first few days in a sling sitting on the couch watching movies and downing painkillers, which I never take. I then decided to go ahead and ride, though I couldn’t put my right hand on the bar or use the right shifter. I was going crazy though and had to get out and do something.
I basically work a sling most of the day for several weeks. The pain made running or swimming impossible for a couple of weeks. I was able to ride the trainer fine, and actually got out on the road a bit, but it always hurt a lot.
I was more or less back to normal in around 5-6 weeks. For several weeks after that I would still have quite a bit of pain if I moved in certain ways. I still feel that it is not as strong as my other shoulder, which is actually injured from whitewater kayaking, but it isn’t bad at all. I don’t feel that it limits me in any way. According to my PT I have about 90% mobility. I honestly don’t notice the limit at all.
The only long term effect I regularly notice is that my right shoulder now sits an inch below my right. It looks funny, and drove the tailor at my wedding crazy, but I don’t notice any problems, and never had surgery.
As far as I understand the AC joint is where the clavicle (collar bone) meets the acromion process of the scapular and it is held together by some ligaments.
Had mine completely ruptured thanks to some guy I’d never seen before(totally unprovoked).
Anyway with or without treatment and given time they will heal back as good as new. Thats my experience anyway. And thats assumming you didn’t damage cartilage of this joint or the neighbouring shoulder joint.
By the way, the guy mentioned above got his come uppence big time thanks to another guy he attacked unprovoked.
I had a 1 in the right shoulder and a 3 in the left in the past few years (one from skiing; one from a bike fall). Both healed fine. A few weeks off. Sleeping was a bitch for a while since I sleep on my side(s).
Biking in the aerobars came back to normal pretty quickly. Quicker than I thought it would. No effect on running at all.
Hey Chris:
I’m no doctor and everyone is different but I’d say you have a great chance of doing IMAZ. Some crap fell off a truck right in front of me when I was doing 25 mph in my aeros. I did a superman and upon landing had a grade 3/complete AC joint separation–looked worse than the one fellow’s blog. This was 5 weeks before ITU LCWC in Denmark.
Mine needed surgery–mostly for cosmetic reasons–my wife wouldn’t let me take my shirt off! My ortho talked me into waiting until the off-season for surgery. I was back swimming after about 3 weeks and could have probably got in there sooner. Running was the most painful and I did do a fair amount of trainer riding right after the injury.
I did the race and I was probably about 8-10 minutes slower over 3000 meters but everything else was fine. I did IMWA later that year as well. At the end of the season I had it surgically repaired which hurt a hell of a lot more than the original injury but after 5 weeks in a sling and another 4 of rehab I was once again pounded out the yards. Funny thing today is that the reapired shoulder actually works better than the one God gave me!
Expect some weird muscle soreness over the next few weeks ehnw you start swimming–the physics of your shoulder are different with that separation–my right trap hurt like a mother!
ALL-IN-ALL, I’d say you have a good chance of making it! Let me know your race number and I’ll cheer for you while I’m out there–going out to support my son on this one!
rc
I say go for it. I’ve separated both, and was back into full training mode 3-4 weeks after each. Even raced 2 weeks after my first which was a grade 3, but couldn’t really pull on my injured side in the swim. I’ve had no long term problems from either other than ugly bumps.
I’d say get on your trainer as soon as you feel up to it. Start easy running about 10 days or so after the accident or when the pain is minimal. Swimming I would probably take about 2-3 weeks off then ease back into it and just do easy base mileage until the race.
You’ll be fine, consider it a personal challenge to yourself.
But everyone is different so if things don’t feel right, other than some pain then stop working out and get it checked out.
MC
I’ve had a grade 1 seperation.(Body surfing, got dumped on a sand bar with a shallow breaker head/shoulder first. I thought I broke my f’ing neck for a second)
2 weeks was about right to my recollection. I was doing some 1 arm drills and kick on my side though with good tolerance. At least it kept in the water. I could still run, but I think cycling bothered me a little but still did it. Putting arm behind back was very painful, and moving arm across body sucked. If it’s a grade 1 seperation you’ll be back in no time, with no residual effect down the road. It just hurts a bit the first week, then it’s ok unless you move it the wrong way for a week or 2. Grade 2, or 3 is a different story though.
Been there done that…Ortho Surgeon doc said leave it separated, no surgery and everything would be fine, shortly. I was on my bike a few days later, running within a week, swimming?, whats that. Actually I was swimming within a few weeks. Other then the, mentioned earlier, big bump on my shoulder that freaks people out, I have no problems with it.
He also, told me, “no sling”. Light use and movement was better then nothing at all. If I rested it, I was to place my finger in my pants pocket to support the arm and shoulder. I went to the ortho doc with it in a sling and he threw it away.
I went to the same doc that is the ortho surgeon for the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning. I figure he’s seen a few of these before.
With Grade 1 and probably 2, early ROM usually start right away. Wrist exercises and arm exercises through a pain free range of motions should be incorporated early, too. 6 weeks out of the pool for a grade 1 seems a little long, but I must an athletic trainer not doctor and everybody is different. Good chance you will have more post scapular pain than the AC joint in the next several days due to swelling and stiffness of the shoulder.
Ice for swelling 20 - 30 minutes for swelling every several hours. The bump over the AC joint where the ligament is stretched or torn is probably there for life.
I worked with lots of atheltes with AC sprains and I’ve had a grade 2 sprain (wasn’t swimming at the time - but had functional range of motion in several days not swimming range). I know I was doing pushups before 6 weeks. Just can’t remember how long it took me to become totally painfree.
Good Luck
I had a grade 3 separation this past fall after being hit by a car. Did Kona 5 weeks after. Shoulder was no worse having done it. I didn’t swim at all during those 5 weeks, mostly rode the trainer and did the eliptical. I ended up having surgery after Hawaii, but mostly for aesthetics. It was far from a PR, but I was gracious just to be there!
It can be done. Everyone is different and even the pain and symptoms from the same grade separation can vary. You just have to see how quickly you heal and decide whether it is worth the risk as you get closer to the date of the race. Start practicing your one-armed swim!
Ortho (shoulder specialist) looks at xrays, says he doesn’t need an MRI to be 100% certain of “at least” a grade III complete AC Separation. Maybe even a IV, although there’s little difference between III and IV at that point. Told him about IM plans, he said best approach is healing, PT and getting ROM and some strength back. He didn’t scoff or make it seem like the IM was impossible as long as I wanted it. I guess the good news is the damage is done, I can’t do anything more to hurt it at this point, and the only thing holding me back will be my pain threshhold.
THanks for all the replies. What the hell. I am going to buy a trainer (live in L.A., resisted buying one) and ride my ass off, get back in the pool ASAP (he said probably 4 weeks), and run ASAP. I know I’ll get through the 2.4, maybe even one armed 
, hopefully can keep up the fitness on the trainer, and run/walk the rest.
Yesterday I was pretty down about having to cancel IMAZ. Now, even with the worse diagnosis, I have some hope that I can get to the starting line. At least I will give it the best shot I have.
Good for you… don’t give up hope! I too am aiming for IMAZ. I broke my left wrist six weeks ago and have been in a cast ever since. Haven’t been in the pool since before Xmas, but I’ve been riding the trainer (sitting bolt upright at first) and running my butt off. I don’t know what will happen once I get my cast off (tomorrow) and try to swim and ride outside, but like you, I’m giving it my best shot! Hope to see you in Tempe.