"Weightlifter's Shoulder" - Distal Clavicle Osteolysis - Resection Surgery

[Gr8Ape]

The other day i did some rotator strengthening exercises, did a few forced reps, but kept good form nonetheless.

My rotators were sore for almost 4 days, my clavicle was like rice krispies (snap crackle pop).

Now its better, but my shoulder stills feels weird. I can do isometrics contractions without pain (which wasnt the case when the injury was more serious), but pushing exercices are always a bit touchy.

What level of pain should prevent me from working out? I can work chest and shoulders without any pain, only slight discomfort because some planes of movement of my left shoulder are weaker than the right.
I did physio for some time and he told me as told as the pain doesnt pass a certain treshold (low) i can workout.

[kchaney]

I am only doing rotator cuff strengthening exercises and bicept/ tricept exercises. I don't think I am doing anything crazy. I am seeing my orthopedist on Monday, so I'll ask him.

Grebnehtor,

What are you doing man? You're really starting to get like Crusher80. No weights at all other than PT exercises until week 12. No pull-ups, push-ups, curls or flys. Especially flys. Okay enough of that. Just take it easy man. You to Crusher80.

I'm 20wks post op and flat benching 185lb 3x10, I'm also able to do dips 3x7. No only that but I'm going pretty deep when doing them. Other than millitary press dips has been the exercise I was most scared to do. I still haven't tryed dumbbell millitary press and believe it or not out of all the exercises I am doing, the hardest thing for me has been db bicep curls. The ones were you twist your wrist at the top. I'm still seeing improvements every week and if it wasn't for this site and seeing post from people like dbrunner00 who had the surgery before me I would be depress because I was originally told I would be close to 100% by wk 12. Now I know better, but I'm cool because I see progess everyweek.

[grebnehtor]

Grebnehtor,


I'm 20wks post op and flat benching 185lb 3x10, I'm also able to do dips 3x7. No only that but I'm going pretty deep when doing them. Other than millitary press dips has been the exercise I was most scared to do. I still haven't tryed dumbbell millitary press and believe it or not out of all the exercises I am doing, the hardest thing for me has been db bicep curls. The ones were you twist your wrist at the top. I'm still seeing improvements every week and if it wasn't for this site and seeing post from people like dbrunner00 who had the surgery before me I would be depress because I was originally told I would be close to 100% by wk 12. Now I know better, but I'm cool because I see progess everyweek.

I am glad for the positive post, and you're right, I'm getting a little bet of Crusher in me. I am only doing light weight shoulder strengthing exercises targeted at strengthing the rotator cuff. I am not doing any bench press, ect.

I am also doing bicept curls, which, you're right, in that I shouldn't do. I am going to ask my doctor what exercises I should be doing at this point.

How does your shoulder feel overall though? Does it feel like the "I can do anything" shoulder, or are you hesitant because you don't want to further ruine anything?

[Crusher80]

Grebnehtor,

What are you doing man? You're really starting to get like Crusher80. No weights at all other than PT exercises until week 12. No pull-ups, push-ups, curls or flys. Especially flys. Okay enough of that. Just take it easy man. You to Crusher80.

I'm 20wks post op and flat benching 185lb 3x10, I'm also able to do dips 3x7. No only that but I'm going pretty deep when doing them. Other than millitary press dips has been the exercise I was most scared to do. I still haven't tryed dumbbell millitary press and believe it or not out of all the exercises I am doing, the hardest thing for me has been db bicep curls. The ones were you twist your wrist at the top. I'm still seeing improvements every week and if it wasn't for this site and seeing post from people like dbrunner00 who had the surgery before me I would be depress because I was originally told I would be close to 100% by wk 12. Now I know better, but I'm cool because I see progess everyweek.

kchaney, I'm glad your making good progress. I'm only at nearly 7 weeks post op, you're at 20 weeks post op. By the time I'm at 20 weeks post op I hope I'm doing just as good as you're doing now. I have 3 things to ask you:

1. I sent you a PM, could you please read it?

2. Could you throw punches right now pain free? Could you shadow box right now pain free? What about hitting a heavy bag, could you pound on a 150 lbs. heavy bag right now pain free?

3. What about wrestling/grappling? Could you wrestle/restrain someone right now pain free?

As you can tell from my questions, I'm very concerned that I will never be able to box/wrestle/resrain someone again. I work security so it's important that I'm able to restrain people and defend myself when needed.

[kchaney]

kchaney, I'm glad your making good progress. I'm only at nearly 7 weeks post op, you're at 20 weeks post op. By the time I'm at 20 weeks post op I hope I'm doing just as good as you're doing now. I have 3 things to ask you:

1. I sent you a PM, could you please read it?
2. Could you throw punches right now pain free? Could you shadow box right now pain free? What about hitting a heavy bag, could you pound on a 150 lbs. heavy bag right now pain free?
3. What about wrestling/grappling? Could you wrestle/restrain someone right now pain free?

As you can tell from my questions, I'm very concerned that I will never be able to box/wrestle/resrain someone again. I work security so it's important that I'm able to restrain people and defend myself when needed.

Crusher,

You've never said in any of your post, but I'm willing to bet money that you're not seeing or haven't seen a Physical Therapist.
Although you ask me the same exact questions when you were at week 3 post op I'll answer them again. I haven't felt pain in about three weeks only discomfort and that's because I know my limits. Why do you think I haven't tryed db millitary press or swats with the barbell on my shoulder. It's because I listen to my shoulder. It happened somewhere between week 12 and week 17 when my shoulder started letting me know whether or not I could handle an exercise before even trying it.

Crusher - I forgot who wouldn't answer those questions for you but I'm going to decline and do the same, only because I feel you shouldn't concern yourself with those things. Remember Cardio is your friend. I did so much Cardio that when I was able to go back on the floor and lift again I felt like I wasn't one of the guys anymore. Just know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

[Crusher80]

Crusher,

You've never said in any of your post, but I'm willing to bet money that you're not seeing or haven't seen a Physical Therapist.

I went to PT for 1 week. He said there's nothing he could do for me because he felt my ROM was fantastic. He said I could start doing RC exercises but as far as weight lifting, I should wait until 3 months post op. He also said I should be able to start boxing training at 4 months post op.

Although you ask me the same exact questions when you were at week 3 post op I'll answer them again.

I know I'm being impatient. kchaney, I apologize for asking the same questions. It's just that I'm very scared.

Crusher - I forgot who wouldn't answer those questions for you but I'm going to decline and do the same, only because I feel you shouldn't concern yourself with those things.

All I wanted to know is if you could throw punches and wrestle
right now pain free. If you say 'yes', than I know there is hope for me.

Remember Cardio is your friend. I did so much Cardio that when I was able to go back on the floor and lift again I felt like I wasn't one of the guys anymore.

I have been walking/running on the treadmill. But that is getting very boring. I can't wait to be able to lift weights and hit the heavy bag again (IF I'm able to do those things again).

Just know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The story is this. I used to be into amatuer boxing a few years ago. I first started boxing in 1998 at the age of 17. I wasn't that good, my record was only 2-2. However, I have sparred with almost every amateur and even some pros that are in my area. I never lived up to my potential because I was too busy partying, drinking, womanizing, eating like a pig, etc. I stopped training and sparring in 2003. Last year at age 26 I decided to turn my life around and stop all that bad living and get back into boxing. That's when I got injured and this whole nightmare started. The timing of this couldn't have been worse. Just when I decided to make a comeback and get back into boxing...BOOM!!! I'm hit with this. All those years I wasted when I could've focused on boxing...now it's too late. And now (at the age of 27) when I AM focused...it doesn't matter because this injury and surgery might have done me in for good. I have no one to blame but myself. Maybe it's God's way of punnishing me for wasting all of those years living a bad life.

You still think that there is light at the end of the tunnel?

[Gr8Ape]

Cortisone + Rest + Good PT I guess.....

[grebnehtor]

I feel exactly the same way crusher. I fell in love with water polo when I got to college, started training hard, and screwed up my shoulder. Now I have to wait a few months and I don't even know if I'll do as well as I want.

[Crusher80]

grebnehtor, if kchaney, dbrunner00, lcamino, Big Stan, and lil_how_how all had this surgery and are now back to working out and are feeling alot better...there's no reason why we can't have the same positive outcome. All of the things that are going through your head are going through mine as well. But you know what?, we're not the first people to get this surgery and we won't be the last. I've talked to many people who have had this surgery and they've all had positive outcomes and NONE regret having the surgery. They just said it takes a long time. Remember we are only at just under 7 weeks post op. It's still early in the game. As long as your doc didn't botch the surgery (which I don't think he did, and even my doc said it's a hard surgery to botch) than you should be fine. Think of how much stronger as a person we will both be after going through this. And who knows...you might even turn out to be a better water polo player than before...and I might even turn out to be a better boxer than before. They're are countless stories of pro athletes who get injured, have surgeries, get depressed, thinking they will never be at their previous level...and than the next thing you know they are back to their previous level and some even come back better than before. We have to have faith in our doctors...in our physical therapists...and ourselves.

Give me a call Monday night and let me know what your doc said about what we talked about yesterday on the phone, OK?

[grebnehtor]

grebnehtor, if kchaney, dbrunner00, lcamino, Big Stan, and lil_how_how all had this surgery and are now back to working out and are feeling alot better...there's no reason why we can't have the same positive outcome. All of the things that are going through your head are going through mine as well. But you know what?, we're not the first people to get this surgery and we won't be the last. I've talked to many people who have had this surgery and they've all had positive outcomes and NONE regret having the surgery. They just said it takes a long time. Remember we are only at just under 7 weeks post op. It's still early in the game. As long as your doc didn't botch the surgery (which I don't think he did, and even my doc said it's a hard surgery to botch) than you should be fine. Think of how much stronger as a person we will both be after going through this. And who knows...you might even turn out to be a better water polo player than before...and I might even turn out to be a better boxer than before. They're are countless stories of pro athletes who get injured, have surgeries, get depressed, thinking they will never be at their previous level...and than the next thing you know they are back to their previous level and some even come back better than before. We have to have faith in our doctors...in our physical therapists...and ourselves.

Give me a call Monday night and let me know what your doc said about what we talked about yesterday on the phone, OK?

To sum everything up, this has been a bitch of a surgery... and you're right in that I've learned alot about myself and probably have become a better person.

I'll give you a call and post about what my doc says.

[Crusher80]

Thanks bro. Hopefully I'll talk to you tommorow.

[Crusher80]

There's something I would be very interested in knowing:

Has there ever been any professional athletes who have had this surgery and have gone back to having successful athletic careers?

Does anyone know of any pro athletes who have had this surgery? If I saw that there were pro athletes who have had this surgery and had made successful comebacks, it would give me hope and inspiration to get through this.

Anyone know of any?

[GGFB07]

Hey guys, I'm a 6'6" 240lb. TE going into University and Ive probably lost my football scholarship because I too have separated my shoulder and now, 3 months after the injury, have been diagnosed with osteolysis of my left clavicle. I have a couple of questions for you guys who have suffered from osteolysis.

1. After the injury, did it seem as if your body was healing even though osteolysis was occurring? For me, I was able to hit the gym about a month after my injury and got up to 10 reps @ 135 on the BP(my pre injury reps were 10 @ 205)virtually pain free. Since then my shoulder has become more and more painful and stiff.

2. If I have the resection surgery now, how long do you guys estimate it will be before I can play contact football again? At what point post op can you begin doing cardio(running and bike) and those excercises with VERY low weight and high reps?

I'm meeting with my shoulder specialist this weekend and will determine whether surgery is the best option for myself. Regardless, I will keep you guys posted on my status. All the best in your recoveries.

[grebnehtor]

If you've been diagnosed with osteoalysis, you have a rough road ahead of you. Your bench press will be affected due to this injury, so training in that area is out of the question. The main reason I had this procedure was to allow me to train in the future w/o that stiffness and soreness. My shoulder was in constant pain, as yours probably is too.

If you're in for surgery, you'll be out for three months, no question. You can still train cardio, but any upper body lifting is out of the question.

Please let us know what your specialist says and good luck!

[Crusher80]

No one knows if there has ever been a pro athlete who has had this surgery and has gone back to having a successful athletic career?

Does anyone know of any pro athletes who have had this surgery? Like I said a couple days ago, if I saw that there were pro athletes who have had this surgery and had made successful comebacks, it would give me hope and inspiration to get through this.

Does anyone here know of any?

[grebnehtor]

Crusher, the study on this website says that professional athletes had this and returned:

http://www.wheelessonline.com/ortho/...vicle_excision

Also, this one too:

http://ajs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/1/53

However, I am not familiar with any "famous" athletes who have had this.

[grebnehtor]

Here's another one crusher:

http://ajs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/2/189

And another one which made me want to get the surgery:

http://www.ejbjs.org/cgi/content/abstract/64/7/1053

[dbrunner00]

Greetings youngsters,

The old man is back from vacation. And, I can tell you that Jet Lag is a bitch. Did a quick scan of the messages and it sounds like everyone is settling down to their therapy and moving forward. Sounds GREAT!!! The healing is a pain, but I think it will be worth it. I'm feeling pretty good, except for a real need to get my body back in the right time zone.

6 Months Post Op and feeling really froggy, if a bit punchy. ;-)

[Crusher80]

Welcome back bro. I hope you enjoyed your vacation.

[grebnehtor]

Shoulder is getting alot better. I have complete range of motion. Some motion will trigger pain, and any exercises I do that load the AC joint will agrivate and cause pain. I can do pushups pain free, and oddily I can do pullups w/o any pain.

Other than that, I am doing well.

Welcome back dbrunner!

[GGFB07]

hey guys, so I met with my shoulder specialist yesterday and he seems to think that my osteolysis wont get any worse. He recommended that I try to play through the pain this football season. My shoulder actually isnt feeling to bad at the moment(after a fairly heavy workout), so I may be able to pull it off.

[dbrunner00]

Hey Guys,

I think I've found the right Time Zone,.....maybe. I got back Tuesday night and headed off to Salt Lake the next day. Jet Lag and a six hour drive. YUMMY!!! All I've done for the last three days is sleep. Not that that's a negative thing. ;-)

Let's see, Football post op. Could be interesting. Ramming into a 250 to 300lb object, full throttle, with the shoulder. Glad they're using some REAL pads, now. Might want to do some real work on the flexibility of that shoulder, just IMHO. The looser it is, the better it can absorb the punishment. Mine started to lose a bit of range of motion when I started lifting, again. But, for all of you MMA types, you know the stretching drills. They worked pretty well , for me. I popped and snapped a bit when I started, but things seem to be pretty well back to where they were, Pre-Condition.

Hey GREB, push ups, no pain? You lucky dog. I couldn't do them for quite a while. Any type of direct pressure to the shoulder was painfull. However, I could do flies and work the Pec Deck with little to no discomfort. The only time it gave me any grief was when I got a really good pump in the Pec muscle near the surgery. I imagine that the pump was putting pressure on the injury. But, I can do Benches and inclined presses, now. The only pain I have is when I get a bit too froggy. But, that's normal pain. Typical male, push too hard for my ego. What can I say?

Keep at it guys. Everyone seems to be settling down and getting to work. I think that's the best thing, in general. SOund like a real Mother Hen, don't I? Well, it's either that or I get the Soap Box back out!!!!

Just for info, the flight from Copenhagen, Denmark to Seattle, Wa is about 10 hours. One way trip was 15 hours and 8 time zones. Some folks do this trip several times a month. I'm way too old for this. ;-)

[Crusher80]

I'm meeting with my shoulder specialist this weekend and will determine whether surgery is the best option for myself.

Please take my advice: DO NOT GET THIS SURGERY!!! You will regret it every day for the rest of your life. I am 2 months post op and feel worse than I did before the surgery. Trust me, whatever pain you feel now will be 10 times worse if you get the surgery. The worse mistake I ever made in my life was getting this surgery. Don't make the same mistake I did.

[Crusher80]

GGFB07 if you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

[skuat_king]

Well guys, I haven't found any concrete evidence on the internet that this surgery works well, but I decided to take one for the team, and go through with this surgery. My problem was this: http://shoulderpaininfo.com/shoulderACOsteolysis.html . This thread is dedicated to documenting my recovery weekly/ daily, or whenever I feel like typing and spilling my guts. It would be really helpful for people to post on this thread to know that someone out there is listening!

A little bit about me - I am a 20 year old, weight lifter/ water polo player who enjoys going out and just working out. I am heavy on the bench press, and this is probably what caused my injury. Also, I love butterfly, so I am sure that didn't help at all.

Surgery occurred on the 10th, and the doctor removed the bandages on the 11th. The surgery was arthroscopic, and went smoothly. I have never had surgery before, and already can note a "watery" feeling between my humeral head and the glenoid. I suppose this is from the extra arthroscopic solution and I know that ligaments around my shoulder were stretched because of the surgery. It's extremely painfully to use my shoulder to move my arm at this point, but I am chugging along. As far as the doctor saw, my shoulder was healthy, just my AC joint was injured. The bump that used to be present on the AC joint is almost totally nonexistent, whereas before it was larger and caused painful popping noises.

how did this injury occur to you? were you forced to get surgery or was it a personal choice? becuase i recently jerked my shoulder when benching but have very little pain, but i do hear a clicking sound when i raise my arm up and down, however i saw a chiropractor and he said i loosened my AC joint and asked me to take break from lifting for a week. he also asked me not to do military press anymore instead he prefers arnold press. i plan on going to the gym in couple days as i dont feel much pain but the clicking sound is still there. does this sound right or should i seek a second opinion? thanks in advance.

[grebnehtor]

Hello everyone. My shoulder still feels better each and every day. I am back in the water swimming, and a little light weight to strengthen my rotator cuff (doctor cleared me for both). I am still waiting another month before approaching the bench press or any other presses for that matter. My shoulder feels better in the water than it did before surgery (there is no pain while swimming). Hopefully I'll return to 100%.

My main question, "Will I be able to push myself in the gym without the AC Joint Pain ever again?"

how did this injury occur to you? were you forced to get surgery or was it a personal choice? becuase i recently jerked my shoulder when benching but have very little pain, but i do hear a clicking sound when i raise my arm up and down, however i saw a chiropractor and he said i loosened my AC joint and asked me to take break from lifting for a week. he also asked me not to do military press anymore instead he prefers arnold press. i plan on going to the gym in couple days as i dont feel much pain but the clicking sound is still there. does this sound right or should i seek a second opinion? thanks in advance.

This occurred to me after a year of small aches which turned into pains which ended up inhibiting my workout. These pains would not get better over time (A year and a half), so I researched AC Joint literature and consulted my doctor about my joint. After one cortisone shot and two months, I finally decided to do the surgery.

[dbrunner00]

Just to throw in my bit. I aggrivated mine by Benching, I think. It was obviously starting to go bad, but I think the Benching accelerated it. As it was explained to me, it was finally aggrivated by uneven weight training. There are a couple of muscle that come across the back of the Scapula and over to the shoulder joint.These are the Scapularis groupings, if I remember correctly. I had developed the pectoral area, but not these. This made the shoudler a bit unstable, mechanically. Basically, it allowed the humerus area to slide a bit during a lift. The sliding aggrivated the joint and caused bone spurs. The AC damage I had already developed simply made it worse.

The pain started out when I started any type of pushing motion, like bench or incline. The real pain was when I tried to rotate the arm out and away from my body.

I went through Therapy for about three months. It helped quite a bit, but it went to a point and wouldn't help after that. I passed onthe Cortisone. I've tried it a couple of times on other joint issues and it proved to be highly ineffective for me.

The X-Rays that we took showed that my Aconium looked more like a lumpy old rock, instead of a smooth, clean bone. It had enlarged enough that it was forcing the bursa between the Acroium and Clavicle to collapse. So, i took the surgery.

It's been a nearly 7 months. I have no pain from the joint, at all. When you get the surgery, keep in mind that when they say that you can return to a normal life, they mean couch potato life. If you're very physically active with that shoulder, that statement does not apply.

I returned to work two weeks after the surgery. I had full range of motion, but the shoulder was weak. It took almost 6 months before I could completely return to my "Normal" activities. That means lifting.

Bottom line is that the surgery worked very well for me and I'm quite pleased with the results. However, it was a bit aggrivating waiting for it to heal completely so I could go back to lifting and not do work arounds for the injury.

[kchaney]

dbrunner00,

Are you able to do db military press. I'm five months post op and still have trouble with this exercise. Actually this is just about the only exercise I don't feel comfortable enough to do.

[Crusher80]

I'm 2 months post op and I still have alot of discomfort in the AC joint. The joint feels very irritated and inflammed. It is very tender to the touch and if I tap on the bone with my fingers it hurts. It's quite obvious my doc botched the surgery. I have a second opinion appointment scheduled for Thurs. August 2. There's no way in hell I could throw a punch right now without there being pain in the AC joint. I guess my boxing career is over.

[dbrunner00]

dbrunner00,

Are you able to do db military press. I'm five months post op and still have trouble with this exercise. Actually this is just about the only exercise I don't feel comfortable enough to do.

Nope, couldn't push over a pair of 35lbs. Hurt too much. Back up around 45, now. Still working on it. The pain is gone, but the left shoulder is still a bit weak. Moved things along by dropping to 25lbs and 25 reps. Really good pump to get some blood into the injured area.