I'm dealing with a type 2 ac joint seperation on my left shoulder. Happened last Sunday. Was told should be better in a week but the pain is relatively still fresh. Any advice from anyone who's dealt with this type of injury would be great. Thanks!
Ttt 4 u.. I have an old shoulder injury from highschool sports, sometimes wrong movement will pop it out and cause arm to go numb.. Not sure what type of injury it was, so will look forward to peoples advice. Sorry dont have more info 
Go to the doctor and make sure to get a second opinion. First doctor told me to just rest it. Two years later, second doctor said he would have operated and these injuries are often the source of much disagreement.
It is way more than a week off, though. mind you, I had the type three, with the visible stepdown.
I'm speaking from the perspective of living through a 3rd degree separation, with no surgical intervention.
Did a physician tell you a week was long enough to consider it in any way better? I'm very surprised. I'd say you are looking at a couple of weeks with pretty significant discomfort, unfortunately. Please work with your physician to get some physical therapy set up. If you don't, you could be risking some serious loss of range of motion and instability well into the future.
Surgery might be an option for you, depending on doc and lifestyle, but many physicians prefer not to operate because of the inherent risks of opening someone up. I went the route of most folks and skipped the surgery. I was back on the mat for light rolling afer about 4-5 weeks and back to full go around 8-12 weeks. It's no fun taking that much time off, but that's an unstable joint and you need to make sure things are set.
One more small note, if you doc hasn't told you, if you go without surgery, you will develop a tell-tale "hump" on your injured side. It ultimately doesn't affect performance, but if you are super into looking good during bikini season, that might be a consideration.
As a reference, I am recovering from a grade 1 ac separation and I was told to take 6 weeks off at least.
This is great info! This is the 1st kind of shoulder injury for me so not training is driving me insane. Any tips for keeping active besides jogging? Do I literally need to stay of the mats for 6 weeks? like not even training guard or something?
Grade 3 here..
My ortho said not to operate and it will heal and strengthen as long as I keep muscles strong.
He was the sports ortho for some NY teams and told me many pros do not fix surgically.
It tool about three months to do light rolling and a year before I never even thought about it.
As many know I am a stuntman. I have many friends in business that are ex-gymnasts (collegiate and national) that also have had a grade 3 during their competitve years and did not fix with no ill effects.
It is also not a time is of the essence surgery. You can fix years down the road if you wish.
I have noticed it aches sometimes at night if I push trap work too hard.
You will have the tell tale bump but only if you move a certain way. If just standing you cant tell.
I got involved in PT as soon as I was told too and have full range of motion.
I also am sure to keep my traps, and rear delt area strong. Just all the stabilizer muscles in that area.
I also found fish oil (I use carlsons) helped when I was doing rehab...just ached less and I think it helped in inflammation. Def didnt hurt! Someone also recommended Bromelain to me as well as an anti inflammatory
Anything else please ask
I had an ac separation - it was either a type 2 or type 3.
I did lots of rehab and it took me about 6-8 months before I felt like it was OK for sports. I had lots of crepitus and the joint was unstable. I could feel the bones grinding on each other for awhile, which sucked.
The rehab I did was with a sports medicine clinic.
Ditto to what Snakepitz had to say. I took the 3 months that I couldn't really roll very hard to get my cardio in order, drop some body fat and get to know the ups and downs of some local hills very well.
I got a late start on rehab/phys therapy and I have lost a little bit of ROM, but stretching has recovered some of it over the years. After about a year, my lifting and upper-body conditioning were no longer affected at all. As I get older (40), it will ache just a bit with activity until I am warmed up, but nothing restrictive.
Good luck. Listen to your doc, your physical therapist and your body.
A strange side effect during the healing process caused some of my muscle/soft tissue to adhere to my scapula. This was really bothering me for awhile, and one night I was experimenting and pushed my scapula into the back of my couch real hard. I heard and felt some quick pops along my scapula and the tissue that had adhered broke free. I felt much better after that.
I think if you get medical attention immediately they advise to make sure you do lots of range of motion stretches early on to avoid such adhesions. A "frozen" shoulder is a pretty common side effect of this, so maintaining range of motion is important.
tourist - A strange side effect during the healing process caused some of my muscle/soft tissue to adhere to my scapula. This was really bothering me for awhile, and one night I was experimenting and pushed my scapula into the back of my couch real hard. I heard and felt some quick pops along my scapula and the tissue that had adhered broke free. I felt much better after that.
I think if you get medical attention immediately they advise to make sure you do lots of range of motion stretches early on to avoid such adhesions. A "frozen" shoulder is a pretty common side effect of this, so maintaining range of motion is important.
Funny you mentioned that as after I was healed and pretty strong I was using a foam roller and worked my shoulder and trap area and heard same noises and it was tender for a day and I was worried I did something
Must have been something similar
Great info!
Should I be wearing a sling? I don't feel I need to since the pain is sharpest when I try touch my right shoulder. Sleeping sucks. Anybody try taping it? Whats crepitus? What exact ROM exercises do you all recommend? When did you stop the ice/heat treatment, or should I continue doing every day?
strikknucklez - Great info!
Should I be wearing a sling? I don't feel I need to since the pain is sharpest when I try touch my right shoulder. Sleeping sucks. Anybody try taping it? Whats crepitus? What exact ROM exercises do you all recommend? When did you stop the ice/heat treatment, or should I continue doing every day?
I wore the sling for two weeks tops I believe...was three years ago so I forget
My ortho had me take off sling when I was walking around house as he was concerned i would bang it etc out.
He told me to wear sling when it felt tired and achy as the support muscles are taking over for the loss of structural support.
It heals fast to where it feels ok on a day to day basis of just walkin around etc but then takes a looooong time to be able to do sports and to mentally forget about it.
One exercise he had me do was bend over at waist and rest head on counter etc and let arm hang and do circles as wide as i could.
Sleeping does suck for a while.
Oh and if it hurts to touch your ther shoulder...why the fuck are you trying?
lol
I dislocated my shoulder 18 years ago in the military, it flies out of its socket IF and WHEN I am not being aware of a particular arm positioning that rotates the ball out of the socket. It has came out doing the most mundane things-hanging drapes, tossing a stick, putting on a hoodie, rolling over in bed, playing tag, throwing a pencil and my personal favorites, during sexy time. The girls love it when you fly off em, cussing in pain as you are attempting to put your arm in it's socket a few times before getting it right, then a couple minutes of cold sweat shuddering on the floor..but that hasn't happened since I got married LOL!!
Anyway, here is the good stuff. In the 10 years of grappling/jiu-jitsu I have never dislocated it on the mat. I keep my right elbow tight to my ribs and as it happens to work out that proper anyway, I am ever aware of extending it while there is pressure pushing downward on the shoulder. I don't raise the elbow above the shoulder and if it is manipulated that way I am quick to tap. Usually when guys finger walk the arm/elbow above my head from mount. Americana (done right) Kimura are all a go on my arm though. Last year I did an electric chair on a guy and the downward pressure about sent it out, now I am sure to put the leg on the collar bone area of my shoulder.
I have talked to a lot of folks and have heard some horror stories regarding repairing their shoulders, like they didn't have near the range of motion any more. Although I know folks who have had great success with their surgeries. The VA told me I wouldn't be doing any martial arts ever once they did surgery on my shoulder. Keep it wrapped close to your body for the allotted time quoted to you by your Dr and find a physical therapist, the thing I didn't do back in the day. When you start rolling, keep the injured shoulder arm close to you and avoid rolling on the shoulder with out having your elbow behind your spine (ie-side control escape/turning toward the opponent)Do not push away toward your head while putting your weight on that shoulder, keep you weight pulling your body toward your elbow. If I were you focus on no arm passes and guard retention with a very cooperative training partner while wrapped up, and light rolling until after Physical Therapy. Hope this helps and if you let it, your shoulder injury might help your game improve....it can be a blessing in disguise where your jiu-jitsu is concerned. Good Luck
Wear a sling and wrap it to your body!!
Good general advice Hippie!
Remember though separated and dislocated are very very different injuries
Separated has nothing to do with the ball and socket..rotator cuff etc structure
Note the collarbone...which should be attached to shoulder structure at the AC joint
OH, I didn't know that, that looks painful. Guess I am on the wrong thread completely...I was wondering about the type 2 and 3 talk, Sorry! (shutting door and backing out slowly)
Again, Snakepitz hits all the high points from my shared perspective. I used the body-wrap sling for about two weeks just to keep the ache down. I also used it to sleep in, just as a precaution.
It's very important not to do too much early in the recovery/rehab process, or you can set yourself back weeks, or months, since (as Snake's xray image shows), this is a very complicated injury to a joint that needs its stability.
In addition to the bent-over circles, I also progressed to some stretching and self-adjusted resistance exercises with a towel and resistance bands. That came about 1 month in, and I stayed with them for a year, just to ensure minimal loss of ROM. From my experience, I would encourage you to concentrate on the overhead reach type of ROM. That was the last pain I got past, and the one motion that will still give me a twinge now and again.
snakepitz - <img width="500" height="400" src="http://www.mybigfatcubanfamily.com/.a/6a00d8341c89e653ef011168458ec9970c-500wi" alt="" />
Wow, is this a type 3 separation? I also notice the pain goes all the way to the back of my shoulder, the scapula I think. Should I be feeling this as well with a type 2 seperationor should I just feel it in the front deltoid area? Makees me wonder if I happened to injure other parts of my shoulder.