AC joint usually gets disrupted by trauma, which can happen by a fall during sports. Though the milder grades ( identified by a simple x-ray) can be treated non-operatively, the severe disruptions will need operative reconstruction.
After due consultation and preperation, the patient is taken to the operating theatre. After Anaesthesia, the position is beach-chair and the skin incision goes down from the collar-bone to a bony prominence called the coracoid process. The skin and the tissues are carefully prepared. The bony ends are prepared too. Two holes are drilled at the end of the collar bone, and a hamstring graft is threaded around the coracoid process into the drill holes, in a figure-of- eight(8) fashion. The AC joint is reduced, and the graft is tied securely with the help of sutures. The wound is closed carefully.
After the surgery, the arm is kept in a sling and shoulder gradually mobilised and strengthened.
