By, Allison R. Weder
“I was doing civil construction at the time. I was climbing out of the bed of a dump truck, and when I was climbing down, I slipped off the ladder, about halfway down.” Cody Shaffer knew he hurt his shoulder, but he would not know how badly until weeks later. “They think I landed on my elbow and when I landed on my elbow, it pushed my shoulder up, tearing the muscles off of the bone.” Cody went to the Emergency Room, but X-rays did not show much. He was told to keep his arm in a sling and wait for the pain to subside. But that pain did not subside, and Cody was only able to lift his arm, just above his belly button.
Cody was referred to an orthopedic surgeon who ordered an MRI. “Once they got the MRI results, they called me back in. He told me what he was seeing on the MRI wasn’t good. He said that my muscles were retracted about half an inch from my bone.” That doctor did not believe he would be able to do the surgery because of the possibility a graft would need to be used to reattach the muscles. He recommended a specialist. That specialist thought he could do the surgery without a graft and scheduled the procedure. But the surgery did not go as planned. The damage was much worse than expected. “It was about a month from my accident to the day of my surgery. (The doctor said), ‘three incisions, I’ll be in and out.’ But when they went in, (the muscle) was retracted about three quarters of an inch. It gained another quarter of an inch.” Cody’s surgery involved five incisions, three screws and three anchors to reattach the muscles. Cody would also need to spend the next twelve weeks in a sling.
Despite being in the sling, Cody needed to begin physical therapy right away. He chose Phoenix Physical Therapy in Clarion, Pennsylvania. “I chose Phoenix because they were close and had really good ratings and recommendations. It took a couple of days for Workers’ Comp to get everything approved.” Because Cody injured himself at work, he followed the guidelines set by his employer’s Workers’ Compensation program. Many Phoenix clinics partner with a variety of businesses to offer expert rehabilitation programs aimed at getting people back to work.
The Phoenix PT-Clarion team was ready to help Cody regain his strength and range of motion, and help him return to the job he loves, pain-free. Karen Guth, PT, DPT met with Cody on his first visit. “Karen spent about an hour with me going over what happened and what exactly (the doctor) did. He wanted to put more anchors in, but the tendons kept ripping. That is one of the main reasons I needed to be in the sling for so long. (Karen) didn’t take my arm out of the sling or anything. She just slowly picked it up and then she did a squeeze test. She just got a whole bunch of baseline numbers and told me the plan.” That unique plan, made just for Cody, involved therapy sessions three days a week. His team knew his goals and worked with him each session to reach them.
This was Cody’s first time doing physical therapy. “I try to be as careful as possible. I played a lot of sports and stuff when I was young, but I really never had any injuries, thankfully.” Cody knew he needed to work hard to heal. He was ready. “We started off on a ladder. I would use my fingertips to raise my arm up the ladder, and I would go as high as I could before it started hurting. Then, I’d lower it back down. And every week I would get another step; get a little bit further. My favorite exercise would probably be the pulleys. I would use my use my good arm to pull my bad arm up and it just felt really good. I didn’t feel a whole lot of pain.”
Cody quickly got to know all the therapists at Phoenix PT-Clarion. He worked closely with Clinic Director, John Curreri, PT, DPT, OCS. “John took the time to understand. He very attentive to why you were in the sling and doing these things that that you needed to be doing. He would constantly go back and read my reports. He told me it wasn’t going to be quick because the damage that I had was substantial.” Cody came to trust his therapy team, becoming comfortable with the fact that his recovery would take time. “It was definitely slow going, but they worked with you. They said it’s like starting to walk again.”
Cody noticed solid results about three months into his sessions. “The range of motion wasn’t hurting as badly. I would still have hiccups, but John would find new exercises. And the doctor was very happy with the results and the progression too.” As Cody progressed, so did the exercises. Many were modeled after the tasks Cody had to do while on the job. Chelsy Aukamp, LPTA, focused on Cody’s ability to lift things, like grass seed. “Chelsey would have me carry a box with weight in it. Then, I would set it down, working on different ranges of motion. That was my main focus, getting my main range of motion back.”
After six months, Cody was cleared to go back to work on light duty. “Workers’ comp was there to approve (my progress) on my last visit. They had a checklist. John felt like if I was OK with it, he was OK with it.”
It has been almost two years since Cody injured his shoulder. At 34 years old, he is now back to full duty. “I’m back to work. I go play golf. I fish. The only difference I feel is my strength, which I do work on day-to-day. I’m slowly getting more and more strength.”
Cody is grateful for the Phoenix PT-Clarion team. He appreciates the diverse ways each person helped him during his time in the clinic. “I have nothing bad to say. John is more focused on the physical aspect. You know, he does get hands-on with you every once in a while, but he was definitely the one that you do more of the physical exercises with. Chelsea and Karen were more of the hands-on (therapists). They would rub the joints, rub the muscles, get you loose, and then have you do the exercise. I learned a lot from each one of them, and I think between the three of them, they got me to where I am now. I’m 95 percent back.”
John knew Cody would find the results he was looking for right away. “Cody’s determination and hard work throughout the rehab process was evident from day one. He was told by the surgeon that due to the severity of his injury, that he would likely not be able to get full strength or motion back, but Cody was not willing to accept that. He put his trust in the PT staff here and was willing to be patient with limited activities early on to allow the repaired tissue to heal, and then pushed himself hard once we were able to progress into strengthening and higher-level functional tasks further down the line. Cody’s hard work paid off and he was able to be discharged from PT and his surgeon with better-than-expected range of motion, strength, and function!”
Cody shares his experience at Phoenix with family and friends. “I would recommend them to anybody. It’s a good place. It’s laid back. It’s a more comfortable atmosphere, like a family.”