Coming back after AC separation

Yep, same grade 3. September of 21 at Elsinore I took a pretty good endo and knocked the ever loving shit out of myself. My shoulder was really painful. I went to a shoulder guy and he told me any repair would be cosmetic and I was too old (65) and ugly to bother. He recommended PT when I could manage the pain and my PT said those very same words. So I just did all the work I needed to start riding again. It took a couple months at least and I didn't feel normal until about 6 months. When I started riding again I had a headshake kind of feeling but if you look at what the AC joint does it makes sense. Your collarbone and scapula kind of form an A arm to keep the humerus from pushing backwards. Just do PT and get everything strong around the shoulder and you should be OK. AC9 did the same thing. I think he came back to racing too soon and wrecked his knee. I did have a wash out type fall, not really that past and laned on that shoulder and holy shit I thought I did it all over again. After a couple days it was back to normal. Good luck.

I had the same thing, but had surgery with two pins. I was only 20 at the time and was riding in six weeks. They pulled the pins out on a Monday and I was back on the bike the next Sunday. Probably be six months now. 

No surgery for me, ate a lot of Bone Broth and did a few sessions of Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber.     Was about 6-8 weeks before getting back to 100%.         

Mine was SC joint not the AC joint

grade 2. no surgery. recovered quite well but lost some ROM

I can't speak to the no surgery option. But I did a grade 5 AC separation back in 21. Went with the hook plate surgery which required a follow-up surgery to remove it like 4-5 months later. It was pretty brutal to deal with, felt like I would never recover from it. Got back to 100% by the following year and felt great. Then broke my collarbone and re-separated the same shoulder in 24, although this time it wasn't bad enough for surgery. I'm back to 100% again. One thing I've learned even on the 2nd time I did it is that shoulder injuries feel brutal. They feel like they are never going to heal. But they do. You will be fine. 

Grade 1 and grade 2 will "heal", grade 3 is totally torn and will not "heal".  I had grade 3 and did surgery.  Very happy to have my shoulder back in place.  A friend with grade 3 didn't do surgery and says he has lots of soreness/pain from muscles having to support the weight of his shoulder.  

I have separated both shoulders a total of 3 times over the years. The last one I had a mild stage 1 but then DR pushed me to immediately get a total knee replacement before shoulder had enough time to heal. Total knee replacement had me using a walker for 30 days on really good pain meds so I couldn’t feel that it was completely destroying my shoulder and after 4 years it’s still weak as shit. 

Give it time to completely heal !

Grade one AC separation here.  Tried to ride the second moto to get revenge and beat the guy who ran me off the track in moto one and quickly realized that was not possible.  It hurt like hell, and I had no strength in the joint.

I can't speak to the surger/no surgery question.  If it were me, I'd find the best shoulder doc in your area and see what they say.  Whatever you do there will be a heavy PT component.  Be religious and diligent about doing the PT for as long as your insurance will cover.  It really does make a difference.

Good luck.  You'll heal at some point and be able to get back it again.

I separated mine when I was 33 downhill mountain biking. Hurt like hell, no surgery. Couldn't lift my arm higher than my hip for 3 months. Did PT, felt ok after 12 months,  full strength after 18. Didn't help that I continued working construction after it happened, even with my upper arm restricted by a belt I tied to hold it against my body. There's a permanent bump on top of my shoulder ever since but no lingering pain or range of motion issues. 

Yes sir, I've done grade 3 on one shoulder in my 20s and then grade 2 on the other shoulder in my 40s.  Just make sure you 1) give it time to heal, 2) do PT, 3) make sure it's strong enough to get back at it, listen to your body.   Also, I agree with your doctor and got similar advice. Avoid surgery at all costs, unless absolutely necessary.

Good luck

I blew mine up last June 30 in a downhill MTB wreck at about 3 mph. I hit some safety rope and my pedal caught, trapping my foot against the bike. Fell over, downhill, straight on the shoulder.  My first thought was that I'd either broken my collarbone between the plate and end or bent the plate. Being that I'm 64 and practically on my death bed, both ortho DR and PT recommended working with it, no surgery.  I can do almost everything from carrying 5-gallon buckets of paint to shooting my bow (modified push/pull draw, though), but I have almost zero strength with the shoulder straight out from my body. That's the only motion where I have nothing. 

If I reach forward, the clavicle will pop up and looks ugly as hell. If I can keep my shoulder back, it looks normal. I can't sleep on my right side which is difficult because that's my preferred side.

I'm riding trail MTB but that's about it. Trying to sell DH MTB. Still have the KTM 150 but I haven't ridden except on a turn track. I will,though.

I suffered a grade 3 Feb 7th of this year. 52 years old, fit, good nutrition, etc. Ride mostly moto / Jday, some misc enduros, GNCC, NETRA. Elected for non-surgical route. For the first 2 - 3 weeks I thought I would never be able to ride again and maybe surgery would have been the way to go; zero sleep, plenty of pain, many everyday tasks were all but impossible. @ 3 weeks I was still questioning my life choices / recovery timetable and I started proper rehab. Then every week after the 4 week mark was a noticeable improvement in a positive direction. @ 6 weeks I had 80+% ROM, no real strength/stability, but I went riding anyway - just cruising around because I certainly DID NOT want to fall at that point but I wanted to get out there and I had ZERO pain which was motivating. @ 10 weeks I was riding at decent speed and life was getting back to normal; able to sleep on the injured shoulder, bang out some pushups and pull-ups and basic shoulder exercises without real pain. Today @ 16 weeks shoulder is pretty darn good! Not 100% but most movements are at least 80% strength, stability is good and ROM is 100%. I've had a few little spills on the bike and no issues . The bump is real tho lol. I do wear an EVS shoulder brace for riding which I believe to help. My takeaways: Confident with my choice of not doing the surgery. Sling it 24/7 for a few weeks no exceptions (shower and sleeping too) - just let it rest. A proper rehab protocol is crucial. I kept mine taped 24/7 when I got away from the sling up until probably week 10 - it helped me a lot with the instability feeling. It seems like a long road but it's just a blip in the radar and in this sport - and in life - it could always be worse than an AC injury! Good luck with your rehab, hope you get healed up 100% and back on the bike asap

Can you recommend a sling? The one I have doesn't seem to support my shoulder well enough. Thanks!

Similar injury eight years ago. Treat the PT like a full time job and take an extra couple weeks off the bike beyond what the doc recommends. Outside of the obvious strengthening stuff, work your ass of to get and keep as much ROM as possible. It's super difficult to get back after it's gone. 

I completely tore up my shoulder over 40 years ago. Not doing anything was not an option. Got my muscles repaired and my shoulder was pinned up through the socket into my collarbone to hold it in place for 6 weeks and wore a shoulder harness strapped around my waist. After it healed I went back in and had the pin removed. Shoulder has been good since then . My shoulder is pushed forward and is not matching the other shoulder, but it looks ok. My shoulder was way way worse than your picture, easily 2 to 3 times more than that, maybe more. If I were you I would get that fixed.

Search "kenny howard splint" -  that design was worlds better than the pos my doctor gave me

Thanks! Pain from this injury can be really bad at times. I'm hoping I can heal without (another) surgery.

I did mine @ 19y/o (13 years ago). Gr3, had it surgically stabilised. Therapy was fairly long and tedious but I got it to the point where you never would have known I had an injury. It was fantastic. I have since done a Gr2 on my other shoulder, which came good after 6-8 weeks and again gives me no issues to this day. Unfortunately I was hit by a car cycling to work a few weeks ago and have torn the stabilisation in my left shoulder (original Gr3). Almost 4 weeks post injury now and still not feeling great, but as everyone says here you just need to take the therapy seriously and really take your time with it. Before this latest injury I found the only time I ever had any AC joint pain is when I stopped doing weight bearing activity. Something as simple as a few sets of unbalanced pushups (I do pushups on with a set of handlebars on a balance board) a day kept everything well in check for me. 

Did mine at 61 (6 years ago) Grade 3 with no surgery. Did PT (and still do stretching and strengthening exercises on a regular basis) There's a few ways it doesn't like to move, and is still weak when lifting in certain positions. I have a separated bicep on that side too so that probably doesn't help. But it feels good when I'm riding, it doesn't bother me at all on the bike. Motorcycle or mtn bike. Visually it looks like everyone else's, shoulder hangs lower and bone sticking up. I need to keep up on the exercises, or it gets weak and starts popping and clicking.          

Grade 3 in both shoulders and they will never be the same. I tend to re injure them now really easily. Even just small tip overs have caused them to have that big gap again. 

I made one from a piece of climbing rope.  I just made a loop with a prusik knot so it'd be adjustable.  Loop went around right elbow, over shoulder, under left shoulder, and held by my right hand. It was stupid simple, kept my elbow and shoulder together, I could pivot shoulder, and it dried fast after shower.  I could change elbow angle while still keeping the elbow/shoulder snug. The loop running over my shoulder also put a little down pressure on the clavicle. I waited too long to start using it, though....should have been on it immediately but it was 2 weeks before I figured out that the rope sling was awesome.