Type II/III Acromion

Any experiences with this?
Words of Hope?
Words of Despair?
Pain management techniques?
End result of a Acromioplasty?

You can see where the ball of the humerus aligns, then the rotator cuff tissue covers it under the acromion. The type III condition feels like a robot is giving my shoulder the vulcan pinch 24/7

Bummer dude. After 8 months of problems when I finally went for help, the original diagnosis for shoulder pain was "impingement" partly based on the hooked acromion shape though they never stated type 1, 2 or 3. Since then (last January) it has turned into an additional 13 month ordeal including surgery which I am still recovering from. Not sure if these are words of hope or despair to you except after long term despair, I now have hope to be climbing again in the next 4-6 months. Part of the surgery was "sub-acromial decompression", with some of the acromion and the bursa removed, though the bulk of the problem by the time I had surgery was adhesive capsulitis and a shredded bicep tendon. Pain management has varied from cold packs and ibuprofen to narcotics post surgery.

I think my best recommendation is find a really good shoulder expert early and if necessary shop for the right physical therapy... part of this is seeking second and third opinions. I received the wrong treatment initially that made things much worse and more long term. It is tough finding and deciding on who to trust, but worth it in the long term.

IMO a mechanical impingement caused by type II or worse acromion is best addressed by arthroscopic surgery followed by an appropriate course of rehabilitation. If addressed early enough, you can usually avoid the damage mentioned in the above post. You also have access to some of the best surgeons in the world at Steadman clinic in vail.

Agree about the Vail clinic. I ended up with Millet and Howard Head at Vail clinic. Wish I had found them first. However, having done a ton of research on the topic due to my own circumstances, not all cases require arthroscopy if biomechanics are bad and can be corrected with PT/retraining/correcting the surrounding musculature and connective tissues. Problem for me was I got the wrong PT which made it worse. Who knows if I would have needed the surgery if I had the right PT to start?

From what the research says, Ben is pretty much on. The acromion type only has a weak relation to whether or not you're going to have problems. That being said I think that having an ortho do a look-see and maybe an MR to see how much damage there already is and if the acromion is indeed a factor would be prudent.

If there is a problem involving bony irritation have the ortho do a decompression since the chances of a recurrence even if you manage to get rid of it is very likely. On the upside, if there's not much tissue damage to the supraspinatus tendon a subacromial decompression is one of the easier shoulder surgeries to recover from.

I know a really good shoulder specialist in the Denver/Boulder area. If you're shopping around shoot me a message and I'll get you his info.

Good luck w/ the healing up and getting back at it,
BA

Thanks guys. Valuable stuff.

brentapgar wrote:From what the research says, Ben is pretty much on. The acromion type only has a weak relation to whether or not you're going to have problems.

+1 truth.

MRI and a good sports doc/orthopod (who is in for your best interests) will get you a d
diagnosis if you have pain.

impingement is an etiology of pain with associated tendonous and muscular injury. acromion type is only weak associated with developing said impingement.

JW

My MRI is on the 17th. X ray already showed the condition. I can't imagine that if you get an acrominoplasty what long-term repercussions come along. I can tell that I do not have tissue damage yet, but I guess these things can keep getting worse until it starts tearing stuff up, eh?
Is the damn thing deforming on its own? What causes that?