Hi. I seperated my AC joint during some training 2 weeks ago and I wondering if anybody else has had this happen and how long it took to fully recover. It's pretty frustating on how it happened. We were doing these superman type dives over people during training where we kept on adding up the number of people that we'd jump over. I landed straight on my shoulder twice. Anyways. I have a type three separation and the doctor is not recommending surgery. I've read the full recover is about 2-3 months but I can't imagine that considering most of us do a lot of punching in what we do. If anybody could share their own exeriences with this I'd appreciate it. It's got me pretty worried about training in the future.
I was involved in a car accident last year while riding my bicycle. My doctor told me i had a "third degree" seperation.
It happened early april and i was training again by june. I even competed in july and in august. Thats not to say i was 100% at that point. I would say about a year later I had no problems with my shoulder. Up until then it would ache a lot and i found that putting heat on it would help tremendously.
At about the 5-8 month mark my shoulder was the same as it was before almost all the time, unless a large amount of stress was put on it. I can tell you the move that bothers me the most is an omoplata. While i can sit in an omoplata and not tap, if its to the point where its uncomfertable i will as if i do not my shoulder will ache for a couple days, so you might want to watch out for that.
Iv still got a large bump, and if you do not get surgery you will probably as well.
All in all, id say 2 months to train, 3 months to train at a good intesity, and a year to be back to normal. This at least, was about right for me.
I had a type 5 separation. Apparently it's very rare and many people will tell you that it is not possible, but it is documented in some medical journals. All it really means is that the clavicle broke and shifted 90 degrees, so the broken part was pointing straight back.
I needed surgery and screws to immobilize my arm for 6 weeks. It's amazing how much muscle mass you lose when not using your arm for 6 weeks. My entire right side drooped down and looked like an old mans body, while my left side retained most of it's mass.
A level 3 or above means a full separation that will never heal. The ligaments have been completely torn off of your shoulder.
This means that your clavicle(collarbone) will never be attached to your shoulder again without surgery that most doctors won't perform because it is unneccesary.
The recovery time that vico states sounds about right for your injury. For me it was 1 year before I could train, and about 2 years before I got back to normal.
Hope that helps.