I just had distal clavicle resection surgery (AC joint excision)

[Jake LaMotta]

I'm 27 years old. I'm 6' 245 wth alot of body fat. I am a former amateur boxer (not that great, record was 2-2). I had a distal clavicle resection on my right shoulder where he removed 12 mm of my AC joint. I also had arthroscopic exploratory surgery on that shoulder where, in addition to doing the AC joint excision, they removed a bone spur near the acromion and scar tissue near the AC joint. I had no arthritis of the AC joint but my doc felt it was necessary to do the AC joint excision so if scar tissue were to reform or a bone spur were to develop it wouldn't aggravate the AC joint. So that's why he did the procedure.

I have been doing codmans, taking Motrin, and icing since the day after the surgery. On Weds. May 16, 2007 my doc removed the steristrips and stitches where the portals to the scope were inserted. He also took a post op xray and said the xray looked good. He said as of Monday May 21, 2007 I can stop doing the codmans and can start going to physical therapy for 4 weeks to get all of my ROM back.

I would very much like to get back into weightlifting and amateur boxing again. Here is the timeline my doc and PT laid out for me:

1. Monday May 7, 2007 had AC joint excision surgery

2. Monday May 21, 2007 (2 weeks post op) start ROM PT. Do for 4 weeks.

3. Monday June 18, 2007 (6 weeks post op) start rotator cuff strenghtening PT. Do for 4 weeks.

4. Monday July 16, 2007 (10 weeks post op) start light weightlifting. Do for 4 weeks.

5. Monday August 13, 2007 (14 weeks post op) start boxing training.

Is there anybody here who has had this surgery and can tell me what I'm in store for? Will I ever be able to lift weights again? Will I ever be able to box again? I'm in alot of pain now since the surgery especially when I use the shoulder to do certain motions. It also hurts to sleep on that side. How long until the pain goes away? Will the pain EVER go away? Also, can anyone who has had this surgery give me a relative timeline for recovery and rehab? If anyone who has had this surgery or is familiar with this surgery can please help me I would greatly appreciate it. I'm a nervous wreck.

And I just want to thank my good friend on this board muscle96ss who has helped me a great deal with my injuries and surgeries.

 

[thebrick]

I had this surgery about 8 years ago because of impingement pain and damage and like you they also removed a large bone spur and cleaned up the joint. Everything was done with a scope. Make sure you follow through with your PT to get your range of motion and shoulder stability/strength back. I was back in the gym pretty fast. Seems like it was a couple of months. The pain will get better, trust me, but the PT is key.

 

[flexmaster]

like thebrick said...DO YOUR PT!!!

 

[Gunsmith]

I had this same surgery 4 years ago on the right shoulderand need it done on the left shoulder now. I asked the Dr how long I would be out of the gym and he told me I could go back as soon as I could stand the pain !!
I missed about 2 weeks then went back and did what I could trying to limit the stress on that shoulder and doing my PT as per the Dr.s advice. I was way week on the movements that used the shoulder for about a year but it has since come back to stronger than before.

The problem is that they are cutting three holes though the three main shoulder muscles

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Will I ever be able to box again? How long before I will be able to throw a good solid punch PAIN FREE?

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Anyone else?

 

[Jake LaMotta]

I need your guys help

Can anyone who has had this surgery please help me? I am a nervous wreck thinking I will never get any better. My surgery was on Monday May 07, 2007. How long until my AC joint (where he cut off part of the joint, 12 mm to be exact) is feeling better. Right now (although I haven't really tried to test it) it is KILLING me any time I do anything to activate the AC joint/front delt (pec deck fly motion, front dumbbell raise, etc.). Like I said I really haven't tried to test the shoulder out, but the few times I did, it KILLED.

Will I ever be able to lift weights again? More importantly...will I ever be able to box again?

Please, fellas who have had this...I need your help.

 

[Diesel250]

Just have some patience, in time you will be back to normal.

 

[violentmessiah]

Relax...

I had this surgery when I was 21, I'm ever so close to 28 now....
I was back at everything like normal somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks after the surgery. You can lift again, you can box again, you can do it all again if the surgery was a simple distal clavicle resection. I went straight back to lifting once the pain was gone or close to gone....went back to martial arts, went back to throwing cheerleaders in the air (as I was a yell-leader years ago). I'm still practicing martial arts (even jujitsu, and this stresses joints!) and lifting. I believe you'll be fine. If you've got major concerns, talk to your doctor. The only thing I can say was a drawback from the surgery is that I have a slight assymetry to my shoulder area now......
Also, there's a difference between osteolysis of the distal clavicle and bone spur formation...of course you can have the two occur together, which I did.
SOMETIMES problems can resolve on their own and surgery is not needed, IF activities are ceased for a time (just like after surgery.....) however, the time period here would be like 6 months not lifting weights... Surgery is a faster solution, which was why I chose to go that route.
Yes, I'm qualified to give a little information on this....

Ahhhh....you're about a week out of surgery. If it makes you feel any better, I slept upright in a chair for a week or so immediately after surgery because it hurt so bad. Give it time. Bone pain is tremendous, but it will heal quickly enough...
I understand the frustration, but you're just recently out of the hospital......give yourself close to a month before you expect to feel good enough to be moving it around a lot, and closer to two months before you get back to activities.
This comes from experience with having 29 millimeters of bone cut off.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

I had this surgery when I was 21, I'm ever so close to 28 now....
I was back at everything like normal somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks after the surgery. You can lift again, you can box again, you can do it all again if the surgery was a simple distal clavicle resection. I went straight back to lifting once the pain was gone or close to gone....went back to martial arts, went back to throwing cheerleaders in the air (as I was a yell-leader years ago). I'm still practicing martial arts (even jujitsu, and this stresses joints!) and lifting. I believe you'll be fine. If you've got major concerns, talk to your doctor. The only thing I can say was a drawback from the surgery is that I have a slight assymetry to my shoulder area now......
Also, there's a difference between osteolysis of the distal clavicle and bone spur formation...of course you can have the two occur together, which I did.
SOMETIMES problems can resolve on their own and surgery is not needed, IF activities are ceased for a time (just like after surgery.....) however, the time period here would be like 6 months not lifting weights... Surgery is a faster solution, which was why I chose to go that route.
Yes, I'm qualified to give a little information on this....

Ahhhh....you're about a week out of surgery. If it makes you feel any better, I slept upright in a chair for a week or so immediately after surgery because it hurt so bad. Give it time. Bone pain is tremendous, but it will heal quickly enough...
I understand the frustration, but you're just recently out of the hospital......give yourself close to a month before you expect to feel good enough to be moving it around a lot, and closer to two months before you get back to activities.
This comes from experience with having 29 millimeters of bone cut off.

Thanks buddy. Reading that gives me some hope. I hope you don't mind but I may have some questions I may be PMing you during my recovery...is that cool if I do that? There's a guy here who posts regularly that is a PT named muscle96ss. That man has helped me tremendously over the last year. violentmessiah, maybe you can help me as well. Thanks again buddy.

Anyone else have experience with this surgery?

 

[Gunsmith]

I went back on partol like 6 weeks after the surgery stil had some pain when it was stressed to hard but I had to get into a serious fight with a drunk about 10 weeks after and used it like their had never been any trouble but the next day it was sore as hell went to the Dr and he said it was sore from the muscles noit being used like that.

No worries bro , just make sure you do your P.T. and do lots of warm ups

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Thanks again for all your guys replies. I appreciate that and you guys have no idea how much more comfortable I feel now that I know that there are people on this board who have had this same surgery and have made successful comebacks.

I have 3 questions for you guys that have had this surgery:

1) Weds. will be 9 days since surgery (surgery was Monday May 7, 2007). That is when my doc is going to take the steristrips off my shoulder (where the scope portals were inserted). He said at that time I can start using DIRECT ice on the shoulder and AC joint using this cryo cup:

**broken link removed**

Will icing directly on the shoulder/AC joint area with this cryo cup help with bringing down inflammation thus bringing down the pain? Also, will doing this help to promote healing in the bone/excised AC joint area?

2) Does taking a Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM stack help with the reduction of inflammation and promotion of healing with this type of surgery...or would taking that stack do absoloutly nothing to help with this post surgery recovery? Did you guys take this to help with your post surgery recovery and what results did you get from using it? My doctor told me that taking this stack would do absoloutly nothing to help with my recovery from this surgery.

3) Can you guys who have had this surgery give me a relative timeline of how I should be feeling at what week or month intervals? For example when should I be able to move my arm freely without pain? When should I be able to lift light? When should I be able to lift heavy? When should I be able to return to my boxing training? When should I be able to fight/wrestle/restrain someone PAIN FREE? When will the excised bone/AC joint area be completely healed where there is NO MORE PAIN AT ALL? etc., etc., etc.

Thanks again guys.

 

[violentmessiah]

yeah, you can pm me

or e-mail me at [email protected]

I don't think the stack you mentioned is going to do much to help with inflammation. Ice will help inflammation and a small amount of vasodilation occurs for a short time, over this time and there's vasoconstriction which will impede recovery.

Everyone's different as to the healing process. I was pretty much back to 100% at 2 months out from surgery.

Gotta make lunch now!

 

[Jake LaMotta]

I don't think the stack you mentioned is going to do much to help with inflammation.

Would you still recommend that stack to help keep a strong healthy shoulder complex? Or is taking that stack all hype and is pretty much useless?

Ice will help inflammation and a small amount of vasodilation occurs for a short time, over this time and there's vasoconstriction which will impede recovery.

violentmessiah, I'm having a hard time understanding what that means. What I think it meant was ice will help for a short time but than it will get to a certain point where ice will actually slow the healing down. Did I get that right? If that's true, how many weeks post surgery should I stop icing?

I would also like to hear Gunsmiths or thebricks thoughts on the 3 questions I asked.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Not to be a pain, but has anyone else ever had this surgery?

 

[Jake LaMotta]

This question is for Gunsmith, violentmessiah, thebrick, and anyone else who has had this surgery. Do you guys have any clue as to why it kills if I do a front dumbbell raise MOTION (not even the lift, just the MOTION kills) or a pec deck fly MOTION (again, not even the lift, just the MOTION kills). I have not tried either of those lifts, just the motions...and they kill. Why is that?

Did you guys have pain when doing those motions at 3 weeks post op?

My doctor said he doesn't know why these motions hurt as much as they do but he thinks doing both of those motions may compress the AC joint which is why I have pain. He said in 2 months (3 months from surgery) when the scar tissue is formed where the excised AC joint was, those motions shouldn't bother me any more.

Why do you think those certain motions still hurt at 3 weeks post op? And do you think I'll ever be able to do those motions again PAIN FREE? How long?

 

[Birdman]

Bro I had the same surgery just last year. When they removed my bone spurs they also had to replace some of the soft tissue in there because it had been badly destroyed from the bone spurs. I have pretty bad arthritis in my shoulder.

The PT was the most important part...DO WHATEVER IT TAKES! You will be able to train to your full capacity within a few months. There are still certain lifts that I dont do because they make me feel a little uncomfortable. I dont do flat bench barbell. Dumbells dont bother me though.

Good luck bro.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Bro I had the same surgery just last year.

Birdman, you had a distal clavicle resection last year? What was your recovery and rehab like? Are you back to lifting weights and playing sports PAIN FREE? Do you still have any discomfort at all when doing any lifts or motions? Could you defend yourself right now if you were to get into a fight (punch, wrestle, subdue, etc.)

My surgery was on May 7, 2007. Do you have any clue as to why it kills if I do a front dumbbell raise MOTION (not even the lift, just the MOTION kills) or a pec deck fly MOTION (again, not even the lift, just the MOTION kills). I have not tried either of those lifts, just the motions...and they kill. Why is that? Did you have pain when doing those motions at 3 weeks post op? I did not have this kind of pain BEFORE the surgery...that's why I'm scared.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

I had some bad luck. The other day I was working security and did my absolute best to avoid any possible physical scenario. Well sure enough I had to physically restrain someone to stop them from assaulting a female staff member. Could not be avoided at all. I had to wrestle around and it lasted a couple of minutes. Immediately thereafter I felt my AC joint was EXTREMELY SORE AND INFLAMMED. Right after the incident I took the day off and went right to my doctor. He said all I probably did was cause the AC joint to become inflammed. He doesn't think I did any permanent damage and he doesn't think I did anything that will prevent me from returning to weightlifting or boxing one day. In fact he said there is no way I could've done permanent damage because he didn't repair anything when he did the last surgery. He said the reason why it was inflammed is because I used the arm very aggressively too soon (only 3 weeks post op). He said at this time there is no scar tissue present where the excised AC joint was so therefore the raw bone is rubbing up against the acromion with no cushioning in between. Also there is still raw bone there from where he cut.
He said it takes a couple months for that scar tissue to form.

Is my doc right...Did I just irritate and inflame it, or do you guys think I did permanent damage? What do you think?

 

[blade35]

You will be able to do everything you did before in about 6 months(100%).I had the surgery on tuesday and was back in the gym on friday.Now don't get me wrong I was going light(VERY light) for the first month but I slowly was able to do all upper body movements at my pre-surgery weights in 6 months.Just give it time bro.