Kenny Stuckmayer
Kenny Stuckmayer needed a tune up.
Kenny is a classic car buff. While working on his ’71 Corvette, Kenny injured his shoulder.
He went to the Emergency Department, where Kenny was referred to orthopedic surgeon Greg Erickson, MD for further evaluation and treatment.
An MRI of Kenny’s shoulder confirmed his diagnoses: His rotator cuff was torn. Dr. Erickson recommended surgery.
“No one wants to have surgery, but I wouldn’t get back to normal on my own” without it, Kenny says. At least he could have surgery close to home: “It’s right here in my backyard, so I didn’t have to travel anywhere.”
Dr. Erickson performed arthroscopic surgery to repair Kenny’s torn rotator cuff tendon. Kenny’s shoulder also had bone spurs and bursitis, a painful inflammation of the fluid-filled sacs that reduce friction between tissues. Dr. Erickson tended to those too during Kenny’s surgery.
“It felt like it went quick,” recalls Kenny, who went home the same day. Wrapping his shoulder in a cryocuff ice pack sling for several days helped reduce swelling and pain. At his follow-up appointment a week later, “they were happy with how everything was healing, and how I looked and felt. They said I could get back to 100%, and that was my goal.”
Dr. Erickson “has a good bedside manner,” Kenny says. “He explained to me how things work, and he’s happy with where I’m at.”
Kenny had physical therapy with Patrick Morrissey, DPT at NH+C’s Rehabilitation Services in Northfield. “He was excellent,” Kenny says. “He explained why we needed to do all of the exercises, and I did them every day. He knew I was busting my butt to get better.”
Kenny did PT for five months . . . and continued on his own for another two months.
It worked. “I’m 99.9% mobile again,” Kenny says. “I’m pretty much back in the game. I’ve got my range of motion back, and I’m working on rebuilding strength.”
That car? Kenny got back to working on it about three months after surgery.
“I feel fortunate,” Kenny says. “I was laid up for at least two months. That was hard on me. I’m a pretty active guy, and all the sudden I’m sitting around doing nothing for two months. That took a toll.
“At my age, if you can’t get back to normal, you’d be going downhill really fast,” he adds. “You’ve got to get back into it.”
His advice for others who get injured? “Patience is key. Patience and diligence. I set up a regimen and followed it, and it all worked out the way it’s supposed to.”
Now he’s back in gear.