Sore shoulder after crash

junglist_matty

Crashed this morning on my commute, another cyclist pulled out of a side road without looking).... I went over the bars and landed heavily on the tarmac with my left shoulder taking the brunt of the force (I was probably going about 15mph at time of impact). The other cyclist involved (a young foreign student) was taken to hospital as she had severe bleeding from a gash on her lip.

I didn't have too much road rash and there was no severe pain or bones where they shouldn't be indicating nothing was (at least severly) broken. However now a few hours later, I have a slight swelling on the top of my left shoulder, at the acromion, as shown here:



The swelling is however, right where I have a patch of road rash from the impact so I'm not sure if it's just flesh swelling because of this? I know the best thing to do is to go and get an X-Ray (and I probably will after work), but any initial thoughts from similar cases would be great.

jgsi

Get an x ray to re assure yourself.
My separated shoulder from a crash in March has given me a significant 'step' .
I have full shoulder mobility and no pain really, even after the crash after other things had healed up.
Just looks pretty ugly, even 6 months after the event... Gollum springs to mind if I protract my shoulder blades.
I'm going to the gym this winter to build up muscle tone on the upper body area anyway as I dont want the surgical route to make things pretty again... and I'd probably not get it off the NHS anyway.
Mine was a race crash,so it was tough sht for me, self inflicted, but yours could normally lead to a claim.. but a penniless foreign student..?

kajjal

Get it looked at by a medical professional to be sure. Unless it is properly X-ray'ed etc it will just be guess work.

briantrumpet

Yep, always go and get an x-ray if you're not sure. I've managed twice to crack my radial head in falls, and though it's not been serious enough to warrant intervention (it didn't keep me off the bike), the hospital have not been at all sniffy about my going in to get it checked, and both times wanted me to go back a few weeks later to make sure all was OK.

speshsteve

look up ac joint separation on the internet...sounds like a grade 1 or 2.....I'm sitting here with a grade 3...right shoulder same injury twice in the last 2 years.......it bloody hurts!

joshvoulters

Get it seen by a doctor- self diagnosis is most often wrong (I speak from extensive experience!).

dilatory

Doctor here. As you've probably discovered from your googling, a slightly swollen shoulder like this can all too often be fatal. There's an artery that runs from your mangina to your heart and it goes through scapula, so any added pressure can cause complications. Get down to A&E immediately.*




*I'm not a doctor. I imagine most people here aren't. Unless it's causing your serious problems get yourself booked into your GP and see what they say. It's probably nothing, if it was broken you'd know it.

BrandonA

I think rule #5 comes into play here.

I'd give it a day or so and see how it feels.

Its bound to bruise and swell after taking a heavy impact. Which in turn will result in a lot of pain which will last for longer than you'd like.

If you were in "real" pain with a serious injury you wouldn't be on a computer asking non-medical experts for advise.

jgsi

and , I forgot... K tape is a pile of sh2te , just brought me out in a plague of boils.