Separated shoulder
So, I am the newest addition to the injured reserve list.
My training has not been going great due to work and home stresses and too much traveling. I just returned from a great weekend with some friends in California and was ready to work hard in some final race prep.
Monday morning, I went out for a ride and felt the best riding that I have felt in a long time. About 50 miles into a 60 mile ride, I slowed to go around a corner that was covered in gravel and dirt from the recent rainstorms. I went down to the side hard. Unconscious for about 30 seconds or so, cracked my helmet and my bike.
I took about 2 hours at the ER to clean out all my road rash, the worst of it was on my right hand where I have several wounds going through many layers of tissue. I thought I had broken one of my metacarpals, but those X-rays were negative.
At this point, however, the worst injury is my shoulder. I have a mild AC separation and a questionable fracture of the acromium. When I look at the X-rays, however, I think the acromium is probably just a variant from one shoulder to the other and not a fracture. But the AC separation is real, and it hurts like the devil at this point.
I went to work today with my arm in a sling and did the best I could. It wasn't so bad, but a few movements nearly took me to my knees at times.
Oh wise ones....what is my outlook here? I am supposed to do Boulder 70.3 on June 14, IMCDA on June 28, and IMBoulder on August 3rd. Right now, I can't imagine running, let alone biking or swimming. How soon can I expect to be ok trying some activity?
Comments
I am an orthopaedic sports medicine doc and most cases of separated Shoulder need a couple of weeks of rest before you feel like doing much. Most folks are back to regular activities by 6-8 week but everyone is different. I would lay off of every thing for about 2 weeks and then see how running and biking go from there. I would lay off of the Swim until you are pretty much pain free.
you should be fine by August but the June races may be iffy. especially June 14.
Fell free to PM me with any Questions
Sorry to hear about the crash, I feel your pain! I was hit by a car in July 2012 5 weeks before IM Canada. Broke my collarbone and degloved my left thumb. I did nothing for two weeks then started to bike easy, a week later I started to run easy and the last week I did some one arm swims in the pool. With my orthos blessing I raced IMC albeit 2 hours slower than if I was healthy. But it was my "best" race yet. I just enjoyed the day. I would forget about Boulder, but there is no reason why you can't be ready for CdA.
I suffered a grade 3 shoulder separation (i.e., complete tear of the connective tissue) in an otherwise pretty "clean" crash about 5 years ago. No other injuries like the concussion you might have or the road rash. I was very lucky. Hardly even messed up my jersey. [I went down into a ditch, somehow managed to get out of my cleats before hitting the ground and rolled...mostly into soft dirt. I did get a new helmet, though.]
The short summary of my experience is that what Ralph suggests rings true. Some of the best advice I got was to hook up with Physical Therapy, and they helped guide me through the whole process. I am pretty sure my progression was (1) trainer; (2) bike; (3) run; (4) swim. The whole notion of raising my arm over my head was very unappealing for quite a while. But it got gradually better, and I was able to race Olympic distance later that season. I can't recall exactly how many weeks. The early IM might be a challenge because you will probably be out of endurance training for a while. That said, I wish you the best of luck!
As someone who has pretty much been on the injured list since early March, I feel the frustration. I'd say be optimistic definitely about the later season races, but most importantly, listen to your body and the MD/PT!