acromioclavicular separations and diving

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

gotwake

Contributor
Messages
135
Reaction score
1
Location
NC
# of dives
200 - 499
Well, I just got back from playing in Colorado. Of course, I would screw up my shoulder...... AC strain grade 3. It looks like there's a lot of controversy over whether there are any benefits of surgery over non-operative methods of recovery. I see my Ortho on Monday, so I 'm sure I'll get more info. I would rather not have surgery, but I am very active: wakeboarding, skiing, scuba.... I guess my real concern is how is this going to affect my diving in the short-term. How long should I stay out of the water assuming no surgery? :depressed:
 
Your orthopod will be able to give you better information than I can, but these are slow healing injuries. Ligaments in general heal slowly, because they are poorly vascularized. A grade 3 injury indicates that the ligament is essentially divided and the AC joint is unstable. Lifting is strongly contraindicated. My guess is that, if you wanted to optimize conditions for non-operative healing, you'd be looking at months of not lifting anything with that arm.
 
Well, it has been almost 3 weeks and I have gotten most of my range of motion back. I've been a good boy and done the PT. The ortho recommended not getting surgery. I thought about seeing a shoulder specialist, but I guess I'll take the wait and see approach for now.
 
Well, if you can heal something adequately without surgery, that's always the best strategy! Glad to hear it's going well.
 
Well, I decided to go to a shoulder specialist. From what I could find, he was probably the best guy in this area. He took a look at the x-rays and and my shoulder and said I had more like a grade 5 separation. So, I had surgery a couple weeks ago. He said that I had a lot of damage and was surprised I was living with it. I get to wear the sling for several more weeks. He said the same thing, that the tissues were extremely slow at healing. The first part of the summer will be messed up, but I think it will be worth it.

That was one expensive trip to Vail :shakehead:
 

Back
Top Bottom