I just had distal clavicle resection surgery (AC joint excision) on Monday May 7, 2007

[Doomsday]

I notice if I take my two fingers (index and middle finger) of my other hand and I tap on the bone part of the AC joint that was cut it is very sensitive to the tap. Why is that? Does that means something is wrong or is that natural to feel at 6 weeks post op?

Another thing that hurts is if I take my bad arm and reach over and scratch the front part of my good shoulder. That KILLS!!!

Basically anything I do that compresses or activates the AC joint kills my shoulder. I guess that's normal for 6 weeks post op. Is it?

 

[bpgagirl22]

I am a 53 yr. old female, actually not a body builder but saw this on Google and thought I could get some tips from you all on this subject. Hope you don't mind.

I just had a Clavicle resection/Lapral tear repair surgery done on my left shoulder back on 4/11/08 and I'm STILL having a lot of pain. He debrided the Rotator Cuff, repaired the partial Slap tear, (Lapral tear), removed some bad Arthritis and also took out 2 bad bone spurs from my clavicle. OUCH! I'm still on pain meds, 10/500 Lortabs because I'm allergic to Percocet (had an Anaphyllactic shock reaction to my ADOC neck fusion on 5-6, 6-7 back in Oct. '07) and I'm still in PT and they haven't even started me on strengthening ex's yet!
Now I'm facing the same thing on my Rt. shoulder! Anybody got any ideas about herbals, other therapies, etc? I had 4 unplanned surgeries last year and I'm wore out! I also have Fybromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and I'm being told this is what's slowing down my recovery. Is anybody else dealing with anything like this?

 

[SkipDawson]

Hey, guys, I'm glad I stumbled onto this discussion. Here's my situation: I'm 51, a teacher, ex-Army guy, love to work-out, pump iron, run, cycle, and hit the heavy bag. I'm not a body-building monster, but used to have a darned good build. Six months ago, while playing dodge-ball with my kids at school, I 'angered' my right shoulder, severely. Had to quit lifting heavy. My PT says my AC Joint is probably ruptured. The radiologist reported that the x-ray showed some narrowing of the gap, consistent with osteo-arthritis. Next week I see surgeons at a sports medicine clinic. I'm growing impatient, lost most of my upper-body mass, but can still lift 'light'. Here's my question: should I push for surgery, or agree to continue with the 'go-slow', conservative approach for now? They'll have MRI results during the clinical diagnosis. What do you think?

 

[SkipDawson]

Tomorrow is the sports medicine clinic, and 'my big surgery' discussion. Shoulder still hurts like a mofo.

 

[Latamier]

Hey man, I work with some orthopedic surgeons as a physician assistant and we perform this procedure just about daily. What you are expierencing is pretty much normal. One thing you need to do is drop the weight. You will be no where near as strong as you were for several months. What I did after mine was decrease the weight by about 50%. Concentrate on form and do each rep as slow as possible. You will get it back, I promise. If you have more questions, please feel free to drop me a PM at any time. Good luck and train smart.

 

[SkipDawson]

Hey man, I work with some orthopedic surgeons as a physician assistant and we perform this procedure just about daily. What you are expierencing is pretty much normal. One thing you need to do is drop the weight. You will be no where near as strong as you were for several months. What I did after mine was decrease the weight by about 50%. Concentrate on form and do each rep as slow as possible. You will get it back, I promise. If you have more questions, please feel free to drop me a PM at any time. Good luck and train smart.

Hey...thanks. They injected a steroid into the joint today. Doc told me to lay off weights completely for at least a week, and then go slow. Next step will probably be surgery. Saw the joint via MRI. It's arthritic, with a bonespur on top of the clavicle at the joint, pointing upward. The joint is deformed, even though there is still space between the bones. Doc said success rate for this type of surgery is high. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Latamier]

One other thing I forgot to mention is hand position. If you have shoulder problems switch from barbell exercises and use dumbells. Rather than having the palms of your hands facing away from you as if you are using a bar. use dumbells and hold the weight with your palms facing toward each other or pointing towards your sternum of the chest. Just by changing your hand position this way will take close to 50% of the pressure off the shoulders. I promise you that if you try this you will feel a world of difference, and it may actually get you back into the gym much quicker. Let me know if this helps, and as before feel free to shoot me a PM with any other questions.

 

[SkipDawson]

One other thing I forgot to mention is hand position. If you have shoulder problems switch from barbell exercises and use dumbells. Rather than having the palms of your hands facing away from you as if you are using a bar. use dumbells and hold the weight with your palms facing toward each other or pointing towards your sternum of the chest. Just by changing your hand position this way will take close to 50% of the pressure off the shoulders. I promise you that if you try this you will feel a world of difference, and it may actually get you back into the gym much quicker. Let me know if this helps, and as before feel free to shoot me a PM with any other questions.

Thanks. I did that awhile ago, with some success. I had to experiment with a combination of angles, and came up with some really weird ones, especially for overhead lifting. I turned my right palm outward, and then found a 'grove' within which I could raise 20 pounds above my head with minimal pressure placed on the joint.

I still haven't had the surgery yet. The doc wants to see if the steroid injection will 'calm down' the shoulder. I hope it works, but suspect I'll require the knife. Thanks again. Great tips.