Shoulder separation

[Lyndell Farmer]

Has anyone ever had a shoulder separation? After the Louisiana Sr. Oly. I was MT biking around Baton Rouge with some college Vaulters and did a endo from a 15 ft. drop on my shoulder. I have a grade 3 dislocation of the AC joint. It is my bottom hand, the ortho said the only way to mess it up is to do something to it. Just wondering if any one has any practical experience vaulting after separating their shoulder. I have been vaulting for 50 yrs and don't plan to quit.

[souleman]

Lyndell, welcome aboard the forum. You should get some good answers to your questions from the members here. Another forum you can try is http://www.masterstrack.com/phpBB2/index.php
They have a category on injury management.
Most of us Geezer vaulters have dealt with, and are dealing with injuries (mine is a foot surgery recovery) and we too don't have any plans to quit. The only thing I can say about your shoulder is "it may keep you from blocking out with your left arm"........OK, that wasn't very funny. Just remember we oldsters take a lot longer to recover than the youngsters do, but we do recover. Good luck...........Mike

[2-15-46]

Lyndell, welcome aboard the forum. You should get some good answers to your questions from the members here. Another forum you can try is http://www.masterstrack.com/phpBB2/index.php
They have a category on injury management.
Most of us Geezer vaulters have dealt with, and are dealing with injuries (mine is a foot surgery recovery) and we too don't have any plans to quit. The only thing I can say about your shoulder is "it may keep you from blocking out with your left arm"........OK, that wasn't very funny. Just remember we oldsters take a lot longer to recover than the youngsters do, but we do recover. Good luck...........Mike

Mine is dain bramage!!!!!!!

[Darth Vaulter]

Lyndell, I suffered a left side 3rd degree AC separation playing hockey when I was 35 or so. I'm 55 now and resumed vaulting 6 years ago. It doesn't bother me a bit vaulting or doing anything else. (Mike -- I'm still able to block out). A 3rd degree separation is better in some ways than the two lesser levels. My collar bone is still noticeably raised off my shoulder but the dislocated end is up away from and not rubbing against the area it is separated from. The doctor who treated me at the time said that after the pain subsided it would be primarily a cosmetic issue. Since there were other things keeping me out of the Mr. Universe competition, I elected to pass on surgery -- they will never get the pieces back exactly where they were and having them close but not quite right can cause more problems than leaving it as is. Good luck.

[Robert schmitt]

I've had a grade 3 with an avulsion fracture. and grade 2 on my other shoulder. niether bother me vaulting. it take 1.5-2 months at least until I was able to vault though. Work on your range of motion every day as much as you can tolerate.

[Russ]

Yep. I did the same (just 1-2 degrees) 2 summers ago. I was just doing a 3-left drill and tilted to the side and landed on my right shoulder. It hurt and I saw the orthopod. But, after looking at the X-Ray, she just said do whatever you want' it'll heal. I continued to vault on it and it gradually healed after about 2 months.

[Tom Wilson]

During college years I had a couple left shoulder separations which I quickly learned were extremely painful events. Those reseated without medical help and with some rest was able to keep jumping. A couple years out had a separation again that would not go back in and eventually had operation moving part of a bone and screwing back in. Several months later after very diligent rehab I nervously entered a meet and jumped without real problem. Then retired for 20+ years and have now been back at jumping 4 years or so. A couple drills can cause some pain but real jumps do not. The rehab back then really did strengthen the shoulder although it has some limited motion rotating to the rear. I do weight lifting routinely to keep the muscles around the shoulder joint strong. It seems if I am lax about exercising the risk of shoulder issues increases.

[Lyndell Farmer]

Thanks for every ones encouragement, I tried vaulting yesterday for the first time since the injury. I was surprised the injury was a non issue. I jumped a 12' bungee from 4 rights several times so other than a big bump on my shoulder and 10lbs overweight Im still in the game. Its been about 12 wks.