The bottom picture of you is saved as my wallpaper. In Breck Epic '21, I took a very bad fall. It is now April 21, 2022 and I am still in recovery from a complete shoulder reconstruction and bicep reconnection. WOW ! To see your picture here when I just logged on to read about BC Bike race is serendipitous. 
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Hang in there!
Always good to keep this thread alive with freshly separated collarbones.
I crashed this Tuesday at almost 70kph (43mph) descending the biggest climb in Europe.
Hit the deck super hard, with my right elbow hitting the road first, which had to be stitched up in 3 places:
That was also the shock that dislocated my collarbone, and ripped all the ligaments. It’s classified as a „Tossy 3“ which is a complete separation. The Rockwood scale goes more into detail, and has 3 classifications for this Tossy 3 (Rockwood 3-5). I have no information here, but reading the description, it should be a Rockwood 3 as well.
It looks like this more man right here:
Doesn’t really bulge out significantly though.
The Orthopedist said it’ll require surgery. TightRope method, where the collarbone is drilled into as Well as another bone in the shoulder. The two are tied together with a tiny rope, that takes another loop around the shoulder to fixate the shoulder further. It’s then held in place by 2 titanium plates (only attached to the rope, not to the bones).
Surgery hopefully taking place on Friday, with the skin overtop of the shoulder being pretty ripped up. That has postponed further potentially, although a larger cut surgery (sorry for using poor language here, this is the best I can explain it) being an option, too.
With several potentially inflammatory wounds on my body, and me currently on Antibiotics and pain killers, I have been resting since my crash 5 days ago (besides having to travel across the continent etc).
I hope to resume light training in 2 weeks time.
The surgeon is an Ironman athlete himself, which i appreciate. Ambitious athletes understand the urge of getting back to training and the fear of losing fitness.
get well soon. Its been almost a year since my 10mm AC Joint separation and I can finally sleep on it at night. I was able to ride on it outside after about 8 weeks.
Did you get surgery? What was the problem with sleeping on it? Does it protrude out?
No surgery. Wasn’t a complete tear like the one above and I am a masters athlete and not an overhead athlete for it to make difference - per the Dr.
It does protrude a little bit IE: 10mm’s. Sleeping on it hurt for a long time. First 5 months, I don’t think I could even lay on it for more than 5 mins. That has gradually got better. Bottom line, it just hurt laying on it for a long time even though there wasn’t any day to day pain.
I can relate…reinjured a grade 3 seperation from 2018 in late may. Very little day to day pain, and I was riding on it in 2 weeks. But man, laying on my back or sleeping on it is so painful. I found laying on my good side with my arm propped up on a pillow really helped.
2 quick PT observations: (1) in most cases, surgical removal of hardware is a pretty straight forward affair. For some reason, taking stuff out is way less traumatic than putting it in. Never really figured that one out, but I routinely see patients w/ plates and screws removed from their ankle and they typically do quite well with little interruption of therapy. Biggest drawback is cost of another surgery, but if it’s in the same calendar year as the first, most people have already met their out of pocket expenses. (2) there are PT’s (NOT me) who specialize in concussion treatment. If you’ve taken a hard fall (head impact or not), and still “feel off” after a week or two, find a specialist. It can make a huge difference.
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+1 on the pain/no sleeping on the separated side for a long time. I suffered a grade 2 separation in January while snowboarding. I’m still unable to sleep on that side w/o pain. Went through rigorous PT regimen for several months to gain some use and strength back. It’s still a long road to full recovery, and I can’t even consider standing sprints yet. The most annoying part is the grinding, clicking, and popping when I’m doing anything that resembles hard work with the shoulder (modified pushups, theraband, reaching overhead to get a gallon of water at the grocery, etc.).
On the plus side, it’s made me work on my seated power and eliminated my reliance on standing sprints at the end of races 
First post surgery post here, after my Rockwood 4 AC Separation was tied together again.
A few hours after the surgery and I feel kinda good again.
When I woke up the first time, it was bad! The shoulder felt pretty similar to when I first hit the Spanish asphalt.
After I had communicated my discomfort, they gave me fentanyl… which was just as crazy as they say. I was completely tripped out and it felt like warm water was running through my body.
It took me almost all day to recover from the anesthesia. In the evening my appetite returned and I feel relatively well recovered now.
I can leave the hospital tomorrow after another X-Ray. Threads are pulled in 10 days, arm can be lifted to 90 degrees then also. 6 weeks to go beyond that and to be able to carry weight on the right side.
Zwift, rehabilitation work, and all other types of exercise, that do not put pressure on the shoulder can be done starting next week.
Pretty happy about that.
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Heal up quickly! All things considered, I’m full go now about seven weeks post-injury including weight lifting and range of motion. Still a little crunchy in there, but physio said it would work itself out. Hopefully you’re back to 100% in short order!
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Heck you’re not even gonna have a bump. Lame. 
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Hey bud, Thanks so much for this post.
I am at week 8 of a grade 3.
I was told by 2 different Dr. ‘ s that surgery is not necessary.
However some days I wake up and my clavicle seems slightly out of place and scapular moved. Did you have this at any point during your recovery?
Hi Brett, have faith. I don’t remember any details from the recovery process but as of today, 6 years on, I don’t notice anything impeding my shoulder movement or strength. Of course the bone is still protruding slightly from the top of the shoulder, but that is only visual.
I wish I could be of more help.
Yeah…I have a grade 3 from 2018 that I reinjured in May of 2022…thought it would never heal…but 6 months later it finally has.
I do a weight lifting workout twice a week to keep my shoulder muscles strong around the AC joint. I had my grade 3 separation in 2008 and now I hardly ever have any problems with it at age 54. It works fine and is pain free 99.9% of the time. I only notice any issues with it if I slack off the weight lifting and let the shoulder muscles weaken. Don’t slack off the weight training.
Thanks guys! That’s so motivating!
This injury takes such a toll on me mentally. One day I feel great the next I feel like my shoulder is “swimming “ around up there.
Had my grade 5 and surgery back in November 2016. T-boned a deer on 11/13, had my surgery on 11/22, and started light riding on the trainer 1/1/2017. Took about three months before not thinking about it and feeling basically normal again. Was 48 at the time and it was first real injury I ever had. I want to say my recovery was on the slower side.
Good luck.
Funny enough I also had a Grade 3 AC Separation T-Boning a deer in Nyack, NY. Actually is the reason I became a PT.
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