On the subject of NHS service I've got to say mine was excellent. Got a good physio who specialized in shoulders so good advice there and also got referred to the fracture clinic where I had 2 visits which included examination by a consultant each time with an in depth discussion of my options. He was strongly against surgary at that point and discharged me in December (approx 2 months after the accident) but gave me details of the shoulder surgeon who I could come back to see if I had problems long term.

All the treatment and advice I had seems to have been spot on, as I said the improvment has continued and I can now climb pretty much without thinking about it, it doesn't impact my biking in the slightest (in fact the additional time I've spent on the bike while I was climbing less means my fitness and skills have improved!)

If his supervisor was listening in, she was a master of multi tasking as I could here her with a chap in the next cubicle.

Based on my own experiences, I've come to the conclusion that the NHS is fine for stopping me from dying but they don't care much about sporty or active people.

I'll now do my best to see a specialist privately when I can. I wish it wasn't the way. Private is flippin' expensive.

Quite encouraging reading some of these posts..
I have just done my left AC joint skiing in NZ. Currently sat in Dubai airport waiting for my flight back home. From the xray and clinical assessment by a physio in Queenstown mine's a good going grade 3. Its all strapped/taped up at the moment and going to get an apointment with some specialist shoulder physiotherapists in Manchester as soon as I get back.

Here's hoping I can get back biking asap!

Also, how quickly were people able to drive after doing theirs? Supposed to be driving to france in 10 days time!!

I was driving within about 4 days. Was pretty sore in town though! Motorway driving should be fine 🙂

Hi mrh86

Sorry to hear about your tumble.

Your first port of call should definitely be your local A&E or fracture clinic. I would get more xrays and get them reviewed by someone with a surgical knowledge of shoulders rather than going straight to a physio.

Some grade 3 injuries (if this is actually what you have) benefit from surgical fixation, the aim of which being preservation of shoulder strength. The technique (arthroscopic tightrope) is relatively new and if done by a surgeon with experience the outcome will be better than has been suggested earlier in this thread. Even if your case does not require fixation your local Orthopaedic department will be able to refer you for some specialist physio on the NHS and you will be "in the system" should you require a further review if things don't settle down.

All the best

level 3 for me last year – couldn't actually move my arm enough to drive for about 6 weeks, then it was still painful to drive for at least a month or two after that. It's having it unsupported for so long.

FYI the window for a tightrope is quite limited >6 weeks – better to do it in the accute stage but is meant to be good – gore fest video 😐

I'm currently nursing a level 2 with the added bonus of a snapped collarbone. I'm all slinged up, but should my knackered shoulder be sitting about 3 inches lower than the other one? It feels like it's going to drop off 🙁

I would agree with the timescales given by mikertroid above.

When I did my AC it took about that long. Sore at the time but fine now.

crankslave – yellow card for pointing us in the direction of that video during lunchtime!

I agree with powerofra's suggestions. Although the experience of most people on this forum suggest that non-surgical recovery is the way to go, your case may be different, and you should definitely go and see an Orthopaedic consultant.

My injury was seven years ago, and it may be that surgical techniques have improved.

I do also remember being told that the best time for surgical intervention was during the acute phase, so you should definitely get it checked out.

Happy recovery

Sorry – just think of it as some ham off the bone from the deli counter.

Agree with you Dair, most people seem to say let it heal with the help of rest then religiously following a physio program.

saying that, at the time I got quite stressed about the conflicting advice from Docs about surgical intervetion- do vs. do not. In the end I saw (on recomendation) a private consultant in Guildford who basically said that the tightrope relies on what is left of the ligaments healling as much as they can with the help of the wires so time is of the essence, but as that acute window of opportunity had passed he could still happily do a surgilig type fix at anytime without any drop in the chances of success – so he said if it doesn't hurt and range of motion comes back after having lots of physio then leave it and if it plays up in the future come back and look at an op.

That was a year ago, it aches a bit now and again if I haven't been on the bike or done any weight bearing activity for a while. But so far so good.

Cheers for the replies guys.

I went to a&e as soon as i got back to the UK who wanted to send to me a #(fracture) clinic in 2 weeks time. Unfortunately Im going to france next monday so didn't book it. The a&e consultant had a look and said he thought it was just a case of rest and physio though. Got an appointment with these guys on tuesday though (Manchester Shoulder who im guessing will be quite familar with AC separations and if I need to see an orthopod they can refer me to a specialist in Manchester.

I'm a med student up in Lancaster so am going to drop in to the hospital and get an orthopods opinion on friday.

I had an Ac Sep last year, Grade III. Bit of rest followed by religious physio and I can't tell the difference other than I no longer lie on my RHS. Just looks cr@p!!

Good luck with recovery 🙂

mrh86 – Don't know if this will be of any help to you, as you are in Lancaster, but if you are prepared to travel to Manchester then maybe…

…Give the Sports Rehabilitation unit at Bolton Uni a call, as they are really good and very cheap. They 'use' you as training for some of their senior students, but always under close supervision. Treatment is about £15 for a 30 min session, and really helped me.

Ooow, I wouldn't recommend front crawl (freestyle)until zero pain through full range was achieved with Breaststroke. I assume each grading has been explained to you? The trick with this type of injury, as far as I am concerned, is to focus on regaining stability and range of movement before excessive loading…kind of makes sense if you reverse think what would happen if you over-load an unstable/weak joint 🙂 Although not as crucial as say and ankle, wrist or GHJ there will be a degree of proprioceptive feedback from this joint that must be retrained/addressed…all ingredients come together to produce a functional joint/mechanical system. It's easy to become focussed upon just one aspect.
Feel free to email me and I'll do my best to help, bare in mind have have two 5yr old lads so replies might not be instantaneous 🙂

I'm only a 3rd year student, but sports wise I've pretty much ticked the entire range of sports and thus sustained many injuries along the way.

My pain is your recovery 🙂

I'm boring myself now, so I'm off