- December 07, 2018 Prior to seeing Dr. Cole, I was regularly suffering from shoulder subluxations and/or full dislocations. Not only was this painful, but each time a subluxation or dislocation occurred, my anxiety and mental state regarding the health and safety of my shoulder during routine ballet and modern ballet classes began to worsen. Likewise, I would have to take at least 2-7 days off to ease the pain and calm/re-stabilize the joint. In short, my training was significantly interrupted by my reoccurring subluxations and dislocations.
After a year of this, it was clear that physical therapy was not a sufficient remedy. Surgery and the implications of such however, were quite terrifying to me. Specifically, the “what if” ‘ s: What if I cannot regain my full range of motion? What if I can’t return to dance as soon as I need to? What if I can’t successfully return to dance at all? … The list was endless.
Dr. Cole understood all of this. Likewise, he recognized that as a BFA dance student in the University of Michigan’s Department of Dance, my ability to perform at my best was necessary for both my personal, academic, and professional well-being. He eased any and all of my worries by answering my questions in full detail and by providing me with information I needed going into the surgery as well as post-op when I began physical therapy to ensure a successful recovery. His professionalism and focus is unparalleled by any other medical professional I have ever seen.
It has been a year and eight months since my labral surgery with Dr. Cole, but I have been pain free, without any subluxations or dislocations, and back to performing at my 100% since long before then. Not only is my physicality regained in terms of my shoulder range of motion and strength, but my mentality has also recovered. Thanks to Dr. Cole and his team, I have no fear of re-injury. I recently performed a work by Shannon Gillen, the Artistic Director of Vim Vigor, a professional NYC based dance company known for their athletic, high-impact choreography. The pictures below from this work (and another dance piece choreographed by Sandra Torijano) demonstrate how far I’ve come thanks to Dr. Cole and his team. I wouldn’t be able to perform at a level I am today without them.
Dr. Cole did not just repair my labral tear, he saved my career!
