Reclaiming Mobility

Reclaiming Mobility

After multiple joint replacements, physical therapy gets Deidre Hirner back to having full movement and being active.

Deidre “DK” Hirner loves being active. She walks her dog several miles a day and enjoys working out on her recumbent exercise bike. She’s able to keep up her active lifestyle after having several joints replaced; she’s had 3 shoulder replacements - one shoulder was done twice - and a hip replacement. DK spent a lot of her early adult years mountain biking. “I just loved it. I would go up to Utah or Colorado and spend days on the bike. It did take a toll on my body though, particularly my shoulders.”

While she was living in Springfield, Mo, DK had shoulder replacement surgery on each of her shoulders.

Shoulder replacement surgery, also known as shoulder arthroplasty, involves replacing the damaged parts of the shoulder joint with artificial components. This procedure is typically recommended for individuals suffering from severe shoulder pain and dysfunction due to arthritis, rotator cuff injuries, or traumatic damage that has not responded to conservative treatments.

During the procedure, the surgeon removes the damaged bone and cartilage from the shoulder joint and replaces them with a metal ball attached to a stem and a plastic socket.

The goal is to alleviate pain, restore mobility, and improve the overall function of the shoulder, allowing patients to return to their daily activities with reduced discomfort.

These surgeries allowed DK to continue her active lifestyle for several years. By the time she moved to mid-Missouri, she was suffering from intense pain in one of her shoulders that led her to needing to get that shoulder replaced again.

She went to Columbia Orthopaedic Group and saw Kurt Bormann, MD. “Dr. Bormann was just wonderful and very knowledgeable,” DK shares. “We did the surgery at Boone Hospital and everything went great. It’s a wonderful hospital.”

DK had physical therapy at Boone Therapy and was assigned Wesley Glenn as her physical therapist.

“A joint replacement is often a routine procedure, but it is life changing. For a few months, there are a lot of unknowns as a person recovers, plus a lot of hard work. Physical therapists help patients apply their energy and attention to the exercises and activities that need to be done and teach them what to avoid,” says Wesley.

“Physical Therapy is really a partnership between the patient and the physical therapist. They provide the knowledge and teach the patient what to do, but it is up to the patient to do the homework. If they don’t do the work, they won’t get the results they want,”

Over time, DK was able to make huge improvements with physical therapy and she credits it all to the hard work that she put in each day. She has full range of motion in her shoulder.

About a year after her shoulder replacement surgery, she faced the possibility of surgery again when she began having fluid leak from her hip socket.

“After visiting with several doctors, it was ultimately decided that hip replacement surgery was the way to go,” says DK.

Hip replacement surgery, or hip arthroplasty, can be utilized to address complications such as fluid leaking into the leg muscle, something often caused by conditions like hip joint infection, severe inflammation, or a failed previous hip surgery.

During the procedure, the surgeon removes the damaged or infected hip joint components, along with any accumulated fluid and surrounding inflamed tissue. The hip joint is then replaced with a prosthetic implant, typically made of metal, ceramic, or plastic components, which restores the hip’s function and stability.

This surgery aims to alleviate pain, prevent further fluid leakage, and improve mobility, allowing patients to regain a more normal and active lifestyle while preventing further complications related to fluid buildup and muscle damage.

After surgery, DK knew she would be going back to physical therapy and specifically asked for Wesley to be her physical therapist. Together they came up with a plan to get DK back to doing what she loves.

“A good PT will be able to customize a program for the patient and adapt it over time, to match the needs of the patient. The ability to modify what a patient is working on so that they can improve their quality of life is integral,” says Wesley.

DK is back to walking her dog several miles a day and she now bikes on a sitting recumbent bike at Wesley’s suggestion to avoid injury.

“Even though I’m done with physical therapy now, I still do the maintenance exercise Wesley taught me every day. I am back to being active and have full movement. I owe so much of that to Boone Health Therapy Services. I’m grateful to Boone Hospital and Boone Therapy for helping me get my movement and quality of life back,” says DK.

By Madison Loethen