Injuries to the acromioclavicular (AC) joint in the shoulder are often caused by car accidents, contact sport injuries and bicycle wrecks. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may have torn a single ligament around your AC joint or all of them, causing the joint to separate. Not only is this painful, but cartilage within the joint may be damaged and develop arthritis as a result.

Treatment of AC joint injuries is a subject of debate among different treatment providers. At Spine Correction Center, we believe in trying out every non-surgical, non-pharmaceutical option before we suggest more invasive options. Many of our patients have benefited from Stem Cell Therapy to treat AC joint separation.

What is AC Joint Separation?

The AC joint in your shoulder is comprised of two bones: the clavicle and the acromion. These are held together by four ligaments and cushioned by a meniscus. A sudden fall directly onto the shoulder can injure the ligaments of the AC joint, resulting in Grade I, Grade II or Grade III shoulder separation:

 

• In Grade I cases, the AC ligament is merely sprained and looks normal on X-rays. The pain is relatively mild and the condition heals on its own.
• In Grade II cases, the AC ligament tears slightly, putting the clavicle out of alignment and resulting in a small degree of deformity. This injury takes a little longer to heal, but often requires no medical assistance.
• In Grade III cases, both sets of ligaments are completely torn and the shoulder is noticeably separated. This creates a bulge above the shoulder as the acromion sits significantly lower than the clavicle. As you might expect, this more severe injury is the most painful and requires medical help to speed up recovery.

AC Joint Separation Treatment Options

At Spine Correction Center, we encourage our patients to pursue non-invasive, non-surgical, non-pharmaceutical treatment options before resorting to surgery. Fortunately, since AC joint separation is an acute injury caused by an accident – not a chronic condition that gets worse over time – most patients can expect to regain full or near-full shoulder function following the injury.

The initial treatment methods for AC joint separation include the following:

• Wear a sling to limit shoulder motion, reduce pain and help the joint heal faster.
• Hold an ice pack to the affected shoulder for a few minutes several times a day to reduce inflammation and counteract pain.
• Take over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication for pain management.

AC Joint Separation and Stem Cell Therapy

When the above techniques aren’t enough, or you simply want to speed up the healing process, consider Stem Cell Therapy to treat AC joint separation. Thanks to recent strides in healthcare and science, Stem Cell Therapy is more effective than ever at treating a variety of joint injuries, including AC joint separation. The procedure is simple and non-surgical, involving nothing more than a single in-office injection.

Stem cells are found naturally in the body and play a key role in the healing process. They lie dormant until they receive a signal that the body is injured and needs help. Stem cells are released at the injured site and transform into the tissue that requires healing, including ligaments, tendons, tissues or bones.

Stem Cell Therapy speeds up this process by delivering a high concentration of amniotic stem cells to the injured area, promoting natural, permanent healing with a single injection. Stem Cell Therapy patients experience very little downtime and can return to an active lifestyle faster than when pursuing other non-surgical treatments. You may notice initial improvement within a few weeks and experience steadily decreasing pain as your healing advances.

The Initial Visit

When you arrive for your first visit at Spine Correction Center in Fort Collins, a member of our team will collect your medical history to ensure Stem Cell Therapy is right for you. Our team has plenty of experience treating AC joint separation, but we need you to participate in your own care for the best results. For this reason, we may offer some at-home tips to speed up your recovery.

Feel free to explore our testimonials page to find out what past patients have said about us. We’re proud to be part of your healing process and want to thank you for considering us to help with your shoulder pain.

Free Shoulder Pain Consultation

The injury you recently sustained need not affect you for the rest of your life. You don’t have to become another statistic – with the help of Stem Cell Therapy, AC joint separation is a completely fixable problem!

We’re ready to help you back on the road to a pain-free life. Contact us online or call (970) 658-5115 to schedule your free shoulder pain consultation today.