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Grade 3 AC Joint Dislocation (Separated Shoulder) 3-Sep-2009 At 1:12:15 AM Andrew_M

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Hey Scott,

Sydney isn't a great place to ride a bike. I had a very similar accident and injury (gr3 AC separation) about 3 years ago. The recovery has ultimately been pretty successful without surgery. It took a solid 3-4 months of physio before getting back to climbing (I some other complications in the recovery - chipped bones in one wrist and broken head of radius on other arm which caused some delays) but then it was pretty much straight back into it.

The AC joint doesn't seem to be activated in many climbing situations... its main function is to rotate the shoulder blade when you are lifting a weight above your head (someone with better anatomy than correct if I'm wrong), which you don't really do very often. The only real time it causes me problems is in strenuous underclings, which seem to have a similar action. Mind you I don't climb very hard, so if you're used to doing strenuous athletic routes you might have a different experience...

re surgery: at the time I did my shoulder I reviewed the published medical literature (I do this sort of thing for my job). My memory is a bit hazy, but the long and short of it is that despite the fact that surgeons like to do the procedure, there really wasn't much evidence that it did any better than standard rehab. So, as well as going to the surgeon, consider going to either a good sports medico or sports physio for a non-surgical opinion.

good luck with the recovery.

Andrew