I am not exactly sure what’s up here.

As I understand an Acromio-Clavicular Separation is when the three ligaments holding your shoulder blade to your collarbone get shredded ... say, in a bad bike wreck (that’s my preferred method.)

Thing is, all a doctor can do is saw off the protruding clavicle end—it is purely cosmetic. There is no way (at least, there was no way back when I did mine) to Reattach or Replace those ligaments. All the docs can do is make your shoulder look more normal.

And frankly, to me that is elective cosmetic surgery and not worth the risk. One could easily wake up with no arms because a doctor in a hurry mixed up a couple patients. Or, the anesthesiologist could space out and you might never wake up. Your spouse could buy a nice bike with the settlement ... in about thirty years.

I was told that I had a better chance of developing arthritis, but I am not sure about that. Otherwise, there are a lot of people who have suffered the injury and are fine. A couple years after I did mine I met a rock climber who had blown out both of his, and he said that after rehab, he hadn’t lost a thing .... and this is a guy who might have to hang by one had hundreds of feet in the air.

One warning: I got back on the bike without enough retraining, and to this day I tend to put too much weight on my other arm, instead of dividing it up equally—which really sucks because I hurt my other shoulder weightlifting.

I’d say, work back up to normal by using very small weights, do a lot of shoulder-specific exercises very gently, and expect a 100 percent recovery, except for a slight lump on top of your shoulder.

Of course, I might be describing a completely different trauma, and all my advice might be worse than worthless.