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

[MatejZwirzina]

hello chickenwhistle, i am now 7 weeks past surgery, and i have pretty much 100% ROM, but my clavicle is kinda prominent, it can be pressed down and it still feels like it is completely disconnected from the shoulder, have you had it similiar ? I really am not sure about my "progress"

[chickenwhistle]

Hey MatejZwirzina. I dont think my clavicle ever had any visible bump, neither before nor after the surgery. It never had a feeling of being completely disconnected either. But it just didnt feel right for quite a long time. tender and not fully functional. Have you had a post surgery check up with your surgeon yet? I had one about 1 week post surgery and then another one about 6 weeks post surgery I think.

[MatejZwirzina]

Hello, of course I had the checkup and my doctor said that it is normal that soon after surgery but, to be honest Ive read all through this forum and I really don t believe doctors in our country much, so it s hard to me to believe that it actually is normal, i am gonnat try to get a second opinion on this. It s not like a bump you just see the clavicle is more up than it should be .... the whole bone, not like the normal ac joint bump

[Nm2k]

Agh, why why did you Matej have to say that your clavicle moves too much and you are not sure about the progress at this point. Very discouraging, I have a surgery scheduled in less then two weeks lol. Do you think they cut too much off. Did they check if all the ligaments intact? You are only 24, you should be recovering at a little faster rate. Try to get a second opinion. And of course all doctors will tell you things like " oh that's normal, give it some time" and " oh you are doing good with recovery" just to give you motivation.
I'm so hesitant about the surgery, I have been feeling pretty good for the last 4 days, just minor aches, but still hurts when lifting and pressing, I still lift every other day I'm just used to it pushing through pain.

[MatejZwirzina]

To be honest, i know they didn't take too much if anything quite the opposite and they did under resection or i am suffering from bony regrowth or the joint capsule is compromised, at this point I really don't know, I don't know how it is supposed to feel in the first place, because for example when i shrug my shoulder up ... i can feel that the acromion moves much more sooner than the clavicle in fact I can move my acromion UP while holding the clavicle in place a bit which is impossible on the other side, and I really don't know if this is normal and the scar tissue just fills the place where the ac joint was so the bones don t rub or actually connects it so the acromion always moves with clavicle.

[Nm2k]

I don't know what to tell you on that , but it does seem strange that you can physically hold your clavicle while moving acromion. I just felt both of my shoulders and I can't make my clavicle stay down . Hey chickenwhistle did you experience anything like that if you can remember?
Man I'm really having second thoughts on the surgery, anyone knows what will happen in the long run if surgery is avoided, does the pain ever go away?, or anymore damage is done?

[MatejZwirzina]

I signed for clinical examination at private sports clinic so I will give you update on this once I ll have that done

[chickenwhistle]

Hey Nm2k no I didnt have any weird experience with my clavicle moving up or down or sticking out. I really didnt notice anything like that at all. All I noticed before surgery was pain in my shoulder. Then after surgery pain was worse and range of movement poor, and gradually it got better and now its basically gone.

[Nm2k]

Two days until the surgery, started tb500 and hgh, want to have it in my system prior to surgery (giving hgh another try). I asked my surgent about possibility of clavicle moving freely and he says it should not becouse there are many ligaments holding it in place and if it's done right the clavicle still remains connected with acromion with ligament as the only front/bottom of that ligament ball gets cut to access the the joint. And he also said sometimes they miss or don't shave enough clavicle on the very top as they trying to be careful not to go through the ligament but it's rare. Sorry if doesn't make sense a little hard to explain in words but he shows me pics and the ac joint looks like a ball of ligaments.

[MatejZwirzina]

Don t worry, you explained it just right but what you are saying applies only to arthroscopic resection, if open resection is done, they disconnect it completely and then suture the joint capsule again together, I wouldn t do TB 500 for this surgery if I were you, TB 500 is great for healing yes, but it acts against the scar tissue, slows down scar tissue formation and as you know scar tissue is supposed to fill the space where the AC joint was.

[Nm2k]

Are you sure Matej? I can't seem to find info like that, it supposed to take inflation off too , was hoping to bennifit from it I have tendinitis, and my knees hurt too. Plus I already got this stuff, need to use it up eventualy. Would you suggest just running hgh by itself then? I was thinking what it might regrow the bone back, lol, as it speeds up collagen synthesis. May be lower does be ok.

[MatejZwirzina]

Are you sure Matej? I can't seem to find info like that, it supposed to take inflation off too , was hoping to bennifit from it I have tendinitis, and my knees hurt too. Plus I already got this stuff, need to use it up eventualy. Would you suggest just running hgh by itself then? I was thinking what it might regrow the bone back, lol, as it speeds up collagen synthesis. May be lower does be ok.

That is exactly right, scar tissue in the body is normaly a bad thing, it takes up space where it shouldn t be taken. The thing is that it is exactly chronic inflamation what causes scar tissue to grow. So by taking that inflamation away you are going to slow down your scar tissue formation. Of course, you don t want to be in unbearable pain ... but some is really needed mainly in the beginning. And the pain after this surgery really isn t unbearably strong ... quite the opposite.

[Nm2k]

Just got home few hours ago. Pain is pretty bad but subsiding. Surgery went well, a little longer as they found slap tear ( and fixed it hopefully, I missed half of things surgent said lol, was pretty drugged up) and my biceps was hanging by the thread too so they had to anchor the biceps tendon. So recovery for me will be a whole a lot different and most likely longer, they don't even want my arm out of the sling for couple of weeks.

[Nm2k]

Progress: day one. Well after not sleeping all night gave up being though guy and took a pain pill seems to be working did my first exercises just pendulum swings and passive arm movement as piain allowed. have high hopes in hgh slowly increasing the dose trying to avoid sideefects.

[MatejZwirzina]

don t worry we are both going to make it back it will just take us a little longer don t give up and keep us updated with the progress my examination is 12th of january, hopefully i they will figure out what is going on with my shoulder, i will keep you updated too

[Nm2k]

I'm sure glad I didn't do both shoulders at the same time, although if it was only ac joint I think I might have been ok, as I feel like I can move my shoulder and use my arm more, but unfortunately with my other issues I'm not allowed to move my arm much need to give time for tendon and slap tear to heal. As far as pain I defenatly feel clavicle bone aching and it hurts more with sertain movements and ofcorse I feel pain where they drilled the hole to reattach my biceps. Not looking forward to fixing my other shoulder, who knows what else they will find there lol.
Hey Matej what do you think about bpc 157?, I have read studies on ligament healing.

[MatejZwirzina]

I'm sure glad I didn't do both shoulders at the same time, although if it was only ac joint I think I might have been ok, as I feel like I can move my shoulder and use my arm more, but unfortunately with my other issues I'm not allowed to move my arm much need to give time for tendon and slap tear to heal. As far as pain I defenatly feel clavicle bone aching and it hurts more with sertain movements and ofcorse I feel pain where they drilled the hole to reattach my biceps. Not looking forward to fixing my other shoulder, who knows what else they will find there lol.
Hey Matej what do you think about bpc 157?, I have read studies on ligament healing.

I would be hypocrit if I said anyhting other than, YES, as I am injecting bpc too.

[Nm2k]

Day 7. Shoulder feels realy good, doing normal tasks as much as I can without moving the shoulder too much and putting stress in my biseps, even forgetting about the injury at times, rolled onto the operated side and used the the arm to help out of bed twice already,scares me a little as I really have to baby the shoulder for few weeks, I think that's why they want to keep my arm in the sling to help protect my shoulder and as a reminder, noticing pain in my other shoulder more. Hopefully surgery on my other shoulder will only involve the ac joint, so I can really evaluate and experience the rehab for that sertain problem. Got some pbc 157 today, started using it too, and I'm stil on tb500, I figured it will bennifit my other issues more first, and if it takes longer to for ac joint to develop scar tissue, it's not a big deal, the slap tear and biseps re attachment concern me more. So hopefully cocktail of hgh, tb500 and pbc 157 will speed up healing process.

[chickenwhistle]

Sounds like your making good progress.

I slept with the sling on for the first couple of weeks. I also stacked pillows along the side of the operated arm to stop me rolling onto it.

Funny your having surgery around the same time of year I had it. I had mine on 16 December just before christmas. Not a bad time of year as you dont need to worry about work. When do you have to go back to work?

[Nm2k]

Yeah, mine was on the 20th December. I live in U.S. and the company I work for only offers couple paid days off Christmas and new year so I have to use my vacation time for being off and will get temporary disability from the state ( which is not much but will help). I' do too have dual citizenship, but doing surgery here in U.S. Only cost me $100 with insurance I have. Originally my surgeon said I will need to take 2-3 weeks off from work with DCO and light duty after for couple more weeks, but all the things he ended up fixing in my shoulder I can't go back to work or physical activity for 6-8 weeks . I sleep on the couch with operated shoulder against the back support of the couch for the same reason so I don't end up rolling onto my shoulder. Going to see doctor on the 5th, will ask him more about the surgery I still don't understand how my biseps was basically detached, I was doing one handed pull ups literarily couple days before the sergury and didn't realy feel anything, will see what he says, hopefully will let me take my arm out of the sling( which I already do at times lol but only when sitting on the couch and not doing anything) will keep updates!

[mtlcruisin]

I am pretty much 3 months from my surgery, I had a decompression/acromioplasty/debridement. I would say I am at 70% or so, and the biggest pain benching still. I haven't even used a bar, just using a machine until I get strong enough. I am probably healing slower than other people with this surgery but I also had a labral tear repaired 7 years ago.

Unfortunately I have a tear of my infraspinatus, partial, and need my other shoulder cleaned up too. Seeing the DR. Jan 12th, but I am a bit hesitant to do it. I am still hesitant based on the fact I am not fully healed on the other shoulder yet but I also know these things don't heal themselves. I wanted to be fully functional for next summer so that's why I wanted to do the other operation by end of jan.

Has anyone with this surgery taken longer than 3 months to heal and still had issues with benching and feeling it in the ac joint + supraspinatus or infraspinatus area where they may have gotten debridement? The only good feeling I have so far is the strain along my trap and bursitis feel about 80% better, but still feel like I am min 2 months way from getting to the next level of less pain.

[Nm2k]

Hey Mtlcruisin, you mentioned you had labrum tear repaired 7 years ago, was it in the same shoulder? Did they see with the camera if it was healed good when they went in it to work on the ac joint? Just courius to see if these type of repairs heel good, as the doc repaired labrum (slap) tear in my shoulder too. And I too have to get my other shoulder fixed, just hoping it's not gonna be as complicated as this one. I'm exactly 3 weeks past surgery today, no pain in ac joint at all for probably a week or more now, just with sertain movements I notice sharp pain once I a great while, although I'm not moving my arm or shoulder much due to other repairs. Doc let me get my arm out of sling almost a week ago, and only allowed to do few stretching exercises for the next 3 weeks, and if everything is ok will start me on rubber bands and small wights in few weeks. It's fraustraiting a little, such a long rehab,and I still have pain in labrum or maybe it's bursitis,hard to tell and biceps is sore.
And as far as feeling close to 100% after 3 months, I remember one guy on this thread his wife was a physical therapist and made him do p/t 3 times a day and if remember correctly he said he was back in training (some sort of physical contact sport) said "rolling around on mats" after 2-3 months. But i think the avarage time is 6-8 months from what I have seen and read.(someone correct me if wrong or missing something)

[chickenwhistle]

mtlcruisin - yep I was definitely not bench pressing after 3 months. Cant remember how long it was, maybe not for something like 8 months. But I certainly am now. I seem to have been one of the longest to heal but I think maybe only one person was ok to do benching after 3 months.

[mtlcruisin]

NM2K - I was awake during this surgery, and he briefly looked at the labrum. I saw my anchors there, and he said it looked fine, but I didn't have any symptoms or any issues with my labrum lately. I had my labrum in each shoulder repaired, and both have held up well. The pain you have that feels like bursitis is they went through your deltoid, and it's normal to feel pain there. If you had bursitis, hopefully your doctor did a bursectomy. Btw, your recovery might be faster since you are taking extras to heal faster, I didn't. But, if you had a tenotomy, it takes a bit longer until you can do weights but reattaching the biceps tendon has shown that the slap repair has a higher chance of long term success.

Chicken - what surgery did you have exactly? Was there a full RC or labral tear, or was it more cleanup like acromioplasty, debridement, cleanup? I really thought I saw people doing weights after 2 months, and getting back to normal after 4 months from just having a "weightlifters shoulder" repair.


So I saw my Dr. on the 12th, and he advised me to wait 1-2 more months before cleaning up the other shoulder. Just due to the fact I am only 3 months from my cleanup surgery and he wants it stronger before he goes to do the other. I do notice positive results though from the surgery so far. I used to have a strain along my trap constantly (felt burning along my collar bone), and when I would raise my arm and lunge for things it felt like things were pulling, and my shoulder didn't feel secure. I would say those symptoms have been reduced by 75% at the 3 month mark, very minimal pain if I am idle. Obviously when I do weights I feel it, so I can't say it's been a 100% success so far. My plan is to see how things are first week of february and then possibly book surgery the week after. It's private so I pay, but I get to pretty much book very quickly.

[Nm2k]

Why were you awake during the surgery? Did it hurt? I remember when i had meniscus surgery on my right knee I woke up in the middle of the surgery and it hurt like hell, they put me out as soon I started getting up and telling them it hurts lol.
The surgent did bursectomy in my shoulder too, and I don't think he did tenotomy ( had to google what that means lol, I'm not too familiar with terminology) I didn't ask him half of the things I wanted to ask, appoitment was a lottle too quick, will try to ask him more next time I go to see him.
And you are absolutely right about delt muscle hurting from where they put a hole, I figured it out last night lol. As far as my progress as of yesterday all of the sudden I feel a lot better, feel like I could do all the normal things, but unfortunately I have hold of on too much movement for at least another week according to my docs instructions, probably won't have full ROM . And i can't tell if I'm healing any faster as I never had this type of surgery before and can't compare. Although I can say for sure that bpc 175 and tb 500 I got works realy good for tendinitis, I offered it to my wife too she has realy bad wrist tendinitis. So about 3 weeks on it and she is down to only about 10-20% pain and can move the wrist in any direction with out problems and sometimes forgets about it, as before she had to wear brace and even sleep in it as pain was pretty bad. And also she said all the little pains and aches in her body are gone now.
And I noticed for the first time in over a year my knee doesn't hurt, but that could be becouse I don't really walk or exercise as much as before. Will see, I think I'm gonna stay on hgh for at least whole year this time as my natural hgh is realy low, may bennifit from it and I will need my other shoulder fixed this year too.

[chickenwhistle]

mtlcruisin - my surgery was actually fairly basic. I just had a distal clavicle resection. Everything else was fine. It was also arthroscopic. I did seem to take a long time to heal though. But one thing I know which made me take longer was that the shape of my resection was not ideal because the new end of the clavicle is not as nicely rounded as it could be, because the surgeon could not completely round it off using arthroscopic method. However my anatomy just needed to take the time to get used to the new shape of the end of the clavicle and its all fine now, but just took a long time.

[noname777]

Hello everyone, I had DCR on 29th october (2016).
I'm now near 3 months post-op and even though I have full ROM, I still have pain when moving my arm above my head (like a sharp pain localized on the front deltoid, near the collar bone).
Also cross body abduction is painful and reaching behind my back with the arm trying to go up is also quite painful ...

I've tried to do push up last week, I don't feel any "grinding" between the acromion and the collar bone (like before the surgery) but my shoulder doesn't feel ready to resume working out ...

I think my healing is taking too long. Any advice ?

[mtlcruisin]

NM2k - I was awake because they just used a nerve block with mild sedation. So local anaesthetic, which is mostly used for these operations. Btw, since I've had several shoulder operations, one day you might feel like things are moving along, only to be set back a day or two later, so don't let that discourage you. It's just the process and I've had that happen many times. Keep us updated on your progress, a lot of people disappear and we don't hear how things are.

Chickenwhistle - I'm 3.5 months post op basically, and any chest exercises really irritate my shoulder. I am not using a bench, just a machine sitting down, with 1 plate on each side. For upper chest, I am at 50 lbs on each side. Lower chest I am at 55lbs. I am staying away from a lot of free weights until I have more stability and strength in the shoulder. Bicep curls I'm at 35lbs, 21s at 30lbs, and a barbell curl 70lbs. Triceps/back I am still doing slightly light. I had a set back the other day lifting up my son, all cross my clavicle it felt like the bone wanted to rip out when I was holding him and moved, and now I have a small burning sensation across and a bit discomfort. But it's good to hear that even though it took long, you were able to heal, it gives us people going through the procedure hope that if we are still many months out, that there is still time to heal and not panic that things aren't where they should be.

noname777, are you doing any shoulder strengthening now? Did you start with very light weights on lateral/frontal raises? Cross body abduction will put pressure on the shoulder, I had surg oct 7 and I irritated my shoulder this week holding my kid, so I'm not exactly pain free either. I always feel things, on the back near the infra/supra (since they debrided) and the acromion area also.

[noname777]

noname777, are you doing any shoulder strengthening now? Did you start with very light weights on lateral/frontal raises? Cross body abduction will put pressure on the shoulder, I had surg oct 7 and I irritated my shoulder this week holding my kid, so I'm not exactly pain free either. I always feel things, on the back near the infra/supra (since they debrided) and the acromion area also.

I do see my PT once a week so yes I'm doing some "strenghening" exercices for my shoulder (you know the regular stuff with tera bands and some rowing exercices).
I'm not very enthusiatic about it, the massage part feels good but apart from that I think time will do the job ... at least I hope ...

[Nm2k]

Not much to report here, still waiting 6 week mark, hopefully doc will clear me to do more exercises and movements. Just had a cold (got over it in 4 days for some reason, usually colds last a week or more with me) and almost every time I sneezed it made my shoulder hurt especially ac joint, I was afraid it could damage the repair in the shoulder.
Mtlcruisin. I will try my best to stay on here and report. I know it helps other people searching for symptoms or what to expect when going through with the surgery. Chickenwhistle is a veteran of this thread, I can't believe he still on here replying to people. Good job man! I wish more people would log back in and kept the log going. One guy few pages back mentioned about stem cells, I kinda want to know how that worked out for him. But unfortunately it was his one and only post.