AC Shoulder separation and recovery time experience

I haven't seen a recent thread on this, so thought I'd start a new one. 

Here's my back story - Separated my L shoulder about 17 days ago in a mountain biking accident. Nothing broken in the x-rays. Saw the ortho about 3 days after the accident and he diagnosed as a "mild" Grade 3 separation based on the x-rays and my lump. I was in a sling for about 5 days and then started seeing a chiropractor at day 7 for adjustments and laser therapy. The swelling is mostly gone and I also use KT tape for support. I'm at 17 days out and I have ROM to reach straight up overhead, behind my back to the right side of my lower back and bottom of left scapula, and can reach across the body to the back side of my right shoulder. I'm doing stretches and exercises throughout the day. I have minimal pain, but still some tightness and some movements that don't feel quite right yet.

So of course this is terrible timing to injure your shoulder right at the beginning of fall. I just moved to SLC a couple months ago and had several climbing trips planned for the season. 

Just curious about others' experience with recovery time and an outlook if I am pushing too hard to be back climbing in a couple weeks. I realize that is aggressive. Thanks in advance for any shared experiences.

I'm two months into rehab for an AC joint separation. (Bike crash also.) YMMV as I'm 62 yr old and I've noticed I don't bounce back quite as I once did :-/  One thing you may want to do, if it's not done already, is get an ultrasound of your shoulder. Supraspinatus tears are common with bike crash AC separations. I have a partial one. That changes the rehab time and technique. I'm also fortunate in that my physical therapist is a climber, so she has very on-target advice for me. Climbing isn't as big a problem as I expected, but overhead moves have to be kept modest, and scapular position is important to be mindful of, until rehab is complete. That can take a few months; tendon heals very slowly. Don't push it, let it heal properly! I was told when I did this in June that if I didn't do anything stupid I could save my ski season, if that helps for perspective. It helps to get advice from a sports medicine physician (WADR to orthopedists - their bandwidth has to go to maintaining the surgical skills they need, they can't be experts on your sport too). And mainly it helps to be patient. The poor hardworking little fibroblasts need to lay down new collagen, they can't work very fast because blood flow in ligaments is sparse and that's how they get their supplies, so don't rush them!

I had an ac separation from a bike crash, characterized as mild, October 2017. Saw a physical therapist and improved a lot in the first 4-6 months but plateaued and never fully healed. Had an MRI in July 2018, showed junk in the joint, (medical term), tried a steroid shot in case it was an easier to fix thing, it wasn’t - had surgery in November (could climb some so wanted to wait for a winter recovery). Post-surgery recovery was a whole other odyssey, was told “6-8 wks”, then “ok maybe 12 wks”, then “idk it takes as long as it takes.” My PT told me the longest recovery she’d seen in a patient was 9 months, but at 9 months they were 100%. That was my story too. It took some kinda tendon needling therapy that finally rapidly improved the last big problem (possibly masked by the more obvious injuries until they had fully healed.) Just shy of two years post-injury and I felt fully recovered. Ready to train and make the most of the 2020 climbing season.... then covid arrived just for fun.

You’ll likely be back to normal faster than I was, but if you’re struggling to be patient remember it can always be worse - and is more likely to be worse if you rush it.

Good luck, heal well! 

In early 2010 I had a complete shoulder separation in a bike crash. I saw an ortho, who declined to do surgery because at the time I was a bike racer, and he thought I’d just ruin the surgery with another crash. I also saw a PT who is a shoulder specialist, and she put me through a strengthening/mobility regiment as well as e-stim  steroid application. Within 4 days I was on the trainer, was riding on the road in two weeks, and was climbing at a limited level less than two months later. My separated shoulder is now my “good shoulder,” and I’m probably climbing better than I did in my twenties and thirties. The most important thing is to keep your shoulder girdle strong, and continue with your exercises, as the shoulder is really no longer attached to anything and will sag if not strong enough. You will also have a hump without the surgery (no big deal). Lastly, and this may be my bias, I’d be really skeptical of chiropractors. Those guys are quacks. 

@Lee Thanks for sharing your experience. Patience is definitely something I'm working on. My shoulder is getting noticeably better everyday, so I am trying to walk the line of staying positive and active but not too active to re-injure it. 

@ Em Cos That is a good perspective. It could always be worse and I'm actually pretty lucky I haven't been injured worse with all the stuff I've done. I'm glad you're back able to train and climb. I hope your 2020 only gets better.

@the schmuck Glad to hear about your shoulder and climbing improvements. I had some high aspirations this year, just have to wait until next.  As far as the chiropractor, I have been seeing them for about 20 years and love the results. I'm sure just like doctor's, PT's, etc, you find some not so great ones, but I'm happy with the results I'm getting. I've gotten exercises from a PT friend that I can do on my own, but I like the physical manipulation and adjustment from the chiropractor with laser therapy. 

Dave macleod has a decent video on the matter. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kfV34SsQd38

Tldr: it can get better, just do your PT, religiously!

Yeah, Dave Macleod's video was a good overview and keeps you proactive and positive. I'm hoping I can climb 8b's 12 weeks out like him :).

Also did a LH shoulder grade 3 tearing all of the ligaments and now have a floating collar bone from a mtb crash about 8 years or so ago. 2 weeks in a sling per the ER (I was 100% sure I broke the collar bone with how far up it was). The sling was a huge mistake as they told me not to move it or risk more damage which turns out was very wrong and made me loose range of motion/strength fast. Follow up visit stopped the sling and was back in the mtns riding bike 4 weeks after the crash. Climbing was a little longer maybe 8 weeks or so before it felt strong enough again. Bad news I have is it hurt for maybe a year or so pretty often.  Even now I get pain in that shoulder weirdly it happens if I hike or walk a lot or sometimes when the muscles get stuck on the end of the collar bone. I already had and still have soft tissue issues from previous mtb crashes/wrestling in that shoulder so that complicates what is really causing the pain but shoulder surgery never seems to be a long term fix so will put that off till I have to use pain medicine or loose strength.  None of this ever affected how hard I could climb or ride/race DH bikes. KT tape on and off was helpful during that first year to reduce the pain keeping the should up in the right position.  

Gonna add another comment in favor of the Dave Macleod rehab protocol. I had what was described as a grade3+ separation. I followed his protocol religiously and even pushed it a bit harder. Was climbing 5.10 by 6 weeks and going all out by 11 weeks.  I have full range of motion, but maybe lost a little bit of strength tho my shoulder bump is bigger than most others I’ve seen.