Stamford Golfer Shoulders through Severe
Injury …

Arthroscopic Repair Helped Her Reclaim City Championship

A couple of summers ago Debbie Johnson suffered a tough shoulder injury and underwent a complex surgical procedure to repair it - but both she and her surgeon, Stamford Hospital's Craig Tifford, MD, were committed to get her back in the swing of her game - golf. Not only was she back on the greens less than a year later, the 46-year-old Stamford resident reclaimed her city's amateur championship (from a defending teen-ager no less) a mere year later. Dr. Tifford performed Johnson's shoulder repair arthroscopically. "Given how badly I was injured, I was amazed we could even consider doing it this way" says Johnson. The recovery and healing time were faster, as was the size of her scar, all of which are factors in her quick comeback.

A committed athlete, Johnson had injured her shoulder by taking a fall while running. It was dislocated and fractured. The ligaments in the front of the shoulder were detached. "It was a big deal surgery," she recalls. "I couldn't move my arm past 90 degrees for eight weeks, or I'd have damaged the repair. " It was four months before she could even try a swing. "I was determined to play golf again," she says.

Dr. Tifford described Johnson's injury as a "bony Bankart lesion of her glenoid." The glenoid is the cup-shaped socket into which the humerus (upper arm bone) fits. Though the arthroscopic approach is more complicated and uncommon (it utilizes a minimally invasive approach, as opposed to traditional "open" surgery), he explained that it is "associated with less cutting, less pain, a shorter hospitalization and a better cosmetic result." He added, "Debbie is a scratch golfer and golf is her life. She was a very motivated patient and she has done phenomenally."

While Dr. Tifford gets the credit for performing an unusual and innovative procedure, both agree that it was what Johnson did in the months afterward that got her back in the game. "She needed months of physical therapy," says Tifford, "and good PT is what you need for a good outcome."

Though she was golfing as soon as she could, Johnson said she didn't have great range of motion. "I was diligent about my physical therapy. I like golfing too much to give it up, so I kept at it. That's how you win tournaments - you do as you are told."