Diary of an injured Adventure Racer - AC Joint

So is that just temporary metal until a grafted in ligament takes hold?

Hope you have a speedy recovery AR. I did my wrist and two ribs on the MTB last year. Being injured sucks!

Rightarmbad wrote:

So is that just temporary metal until a grafted in ligament takes hold?

From what I remember him saying yes, it will be in for about 6-12 months? After that it's a case of seeing how stable the joint will be, if it does become unstable then they start looking at a grafted or synthetic ligament. The plan with this op is that by forcing the torn ligaments back against one another they will knit together and hold once the plate is removed.

Thanks Beejay, was trying to save the wrist by rolling (which has worked for me once on a road bike) but it seems I used up my luck then.

I wish I was offered an option like that when I did mine.

Black dog came sniffing at my door yesterday .....put it down to detoxing from all the powerful painkillers (had enough of feeling sluggish) and the frustration of no physical activity. Very determined not to gain weight and to keep a positive perspective. Went online for some retail therapy and ordered a Kurt Kinetic fluid resistance trainer for my bike so as soon as I get the go ahead from the surgeon I can start cycling indoors. Surgeon wants me to stay off the road/mountain bikes for a couple of months. Also looking forward to some hydrotherapy to get the lats working again, they are bloody sore from next to no movement.

I know that feeling all too well AR! Good move on getting the windtrainer happening, it'll help getting those endorphins flowing again and stop the black dog turning into a great big black bear!!!!

The only advise I can give you is don't rush the recovery. It's always a balanceing act between doing enough to keep the muscles etc from turning to mush and not injurying yourself further. Good luck.

Well one week on and daily life away from training is starting to return to normal, can drive, dress myself, etc etc just end up sore at the end of the day and sleeping is another matter, woken several times per night when I roll the wrong way

Decided to start arranging a Vet's team to replace my solo Anaconda Adventure Race Solo entry in November.

I am going to focus on the run and get 3 other vets (40+) for the other legs and see how we go about getting on the podium.

Off to a good start with Martin Gunda of Bunbury doing the ocean paddle, just gotta secure a good swimmer and mountain biker....I've got mountain bikers queuing up to do it but they're under the vet age bracket at the moment.

If I can manage to get a good Vet's team together to challenge at the top end that will go some way to curbing my disappointment at not competing as a solo

Update: tonight had one of the states top vets mountain bikers come onboard, just a swimmer to go

Hey Brett

Hope u have yr entry in already, as entries have closed until the final 2 weeks where they may have limited spots left!

not bad...........600 entries 3 months out!

Yeah, I entered as a solo within days of the entries opening, so just a matter of converting entry to a team.

Back to see the Surgeon tomorrow, hopefully for an all clear to start rehab and training

EDIT 11/08 - Email back from rapidascent, all good to enter a team (which we got a swimmer for today) so it's full steam ahead

Thanks for the PM's and messages of support from those of you who have been through this and similar surgery, good to know others have been through this and are back doing what they love.

Saw the Surgeon today. He is happy with progress, have good alignment and range of movement (ROM) without any impingement (catching or trapping of nerves) during shoulder movement.

So the prognosis is excellent.

Next 6 weeks I am allowed to run & indoor cycle (doesnt want me to risk injury cycling outdoors), I am allowed to gently stretch to improve ROM, but not exercise shoulder. After that 6 weeks he says I should be ready to start light swimming

thebigadski wrote:

Hey Brett

Hope u have yr entry in already, as entries have closed until the final 2 weeks where they may have limited spots left!

not bad...........600 entries 3 months out!

BTW, from what I hear the Avon could have been billed as an AR from all the running/walking/clamouring over rocks that was done!

My Kurt Kinetic (indoor cycling trainer) arrived at the post office today. So excited

Got it home and set it up in front of the projector screen in the lounge, threw on the accompanying spinervals DVD and did an 80 minute workout.

Was great to have the endorphins flowing again despite my shouder throbbing

I now feel like throwing up, probably having flushed all those drugs outta my system from the past few weeks

Thumbs up to the trainer, really is just like being on the road and is very quiet.

Probably spend a week just on the trainer before seeing how the shoulder handles the jolting of running again.

Edit - Another 110 minutes on the trainer today, getting the blood flowing again has been soo good for the body and mind and slept like a baby last night

Couldn't help myself, the weather was just so nice today

After doing my volunteering duties marshalling at the Pinjarra Classic bike race got home and went out for an easy 7km beach run.

Figured running on the soft sand would limit the jolting of the shoulder.

Shoulder was pretty uncomfortable during the run but it was good to get the legs ticking over. The post run stretching was very welcome too. Shoulder pulled up pretty sore for an hour or so afterwards, but a few hours later and I'm feeling good.

Will give it another go mid week then hopefully back to full distance stuff by next weekend.

Shoulder seems to have plenty of range of movement to be good for paddle stroke movement, so it's just a matter of giving it time to heal. 5 weeks to go!

Talk about "Balance to your training week", since doing my shoulder and only being able to concentrate on running and cycling I have been battling leg problems ...

Seems I've been going out a bit hard now that I have all this extra time away from paddling and the pool.

Main problem has been hamstrings and in sympathy calf muscles which usually bear the brunt of tightness.

Funny, I had shaken these problems which I battled with during my triathlon days after I took up paddling,.. seems the paddling helped to keep my glutes, hammys and hence calves looser

Only 3 weeks now until I can return to paddling, shoulder has full ROM during stretching now so all is looking good

I used to do a lot of sculling until I could get my arm above the shoulder.
Kept my swim pace right up there...

Rightarmbad wrote:

I used to do a lot of sculling until I could get my arm above the shoulder.
Kept my swim pace right up there...

Had some experience with that in May, was roped into doing the team swim in a half ironman without any swim training for about 4-5 months , but had been paddling 3 times per week. Was only a few minutes slower over the 1.9k distance (35min) than when I am training in the pool, so as you say the muscles employed are pretty much the same

Well I'm back on the water

Went out for an easy 4km yesterday to just give the shoulder a test and despite feeling tight and sore there was no pain and today I have pulled up feeling no worse, so thats a big step in the right direction.

I start rehab with a sports physio recommended by my surgeon on Tuesday which I'm hoping will loosen me up lots, especially my lats.

The Augusta Anaconda adventure race orientation day is next weekend and I am quietly hoping that by some miracle my shoulder feels up to getting on the water with the other 100 + paddlers just for the fun of it but we'll see how the shoulder progresses this week.

Okay Physio gave me a good going over this morning.

Some of my accessory muscles have wasted away, I could actually feel the difference when he was pressing on both sides at once.

We went through some range of motion stuff and while I thought I had nearly full ROM this is far from the truth, so swimming will be left alone for a while, trying to swim (while possible) with my current ROM is inviting injuries in other muscles/joints due to improper/misaligned technique.

So I have a whole range of excercises with elastic bands to strengthen my rotator cuffs and stretches to get back the ROM I've lost. He reckons about 6 - 8 weeks and I should be good as good as new.

That'll take the recovery from date of injury out to almost 4 months and thats just getting my body right before I can get racing fitness back.

I'm allowed to keep paddling but need to take it easy, evidentally if your rotator cuffs arent well developed there can be movement of the shoulder within the joint and it can cause you longer term problems.

So I'll paddle a couple of times a week but keep the intensity down and just focus on technique and time in the seat.

I wonder if my never repaired AC joint is going to create problems in the future.
It really piisses me off that I was never even offered the repair such as yours.
I can't imagine you having a full range of motion while ever the metal is still in.
Is it going to stay?
My shoulder used to ache when running in the cold.

I can't imagine you having a full range of motion while ever the metal is still in.

Well, the physio I saw is from the "sports medicine" dept of the centre in the same building as my surgeon. There is also a seperate physiotherapy practise in the building as well so I guess they are specialising in different areas.

The way the physio talked I got the impression he was expecting that I would get back full ROM, I guess it's really up to whether I get any impingement which is so far so good

The physio was quite familiar with what I had done, this place seems to specialise in dealing with athletes and getting them right.

I knew this partly because he was interested to know if he had to get me right for a particular event/race?

I told him I had written off competing seriously in anything involving the shoulder this summer and just wanted to get the body right, but as I have stated earlier this surgeon got an ironman sorted for Kona (Hawaii) 6 weeks after the same op, so I guess it depends on how hard you want to push your rehab and what risk you are prepared to take on your long term health. Aussie rules footballers are classic examples, just look at them later in life when they are hobbling around


Is it going to stay?

The surgeon wants it in for another 6 months but he is flexible and was happy to leave it in longer if I wanted to time the op with other commitments.

I guess in your case it couldnt hurt to go see someone like this and have the shoulder assessed, they may be able to recommend excercises that will lessen the likelihood of long term wear and tear