Kurt Koehler is passionate about the pool, “Teaching kids brings me joy,” says Kurt. But years of swimming began to take a toll on this high school swim coach. What began as a slight “twinge” at night soon became unbearable.
“Last year it got really bad–I couldn’t swim, it hurt that bad,” he says.
His primary care physician referred him to Community Hospital Outpatient Therapy to try a therapeutic path to relief.
“Kurt was having difficulty getting through the whole day, having lots of inflammation and pain in the shoulder. It stopped him from doing any recreational activities that he loved to do which is swim,” says Kelli Moore, physical therapist at Community Hospital Outpatient Therapy.
“I mean it felt better but the second I hit the pool it was the same way all over again,” says Kurt.
When physical therapy alone didn’t produce the lasting relief, therapist Kelli Moore was looking for, she consulted with Community Hospital Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Mac Moore.
“He’s passionate about what he does, about swimming, about those kids and had a strong desire to get back into the water…that was his main goal,” says Dr. Moore.
Kurt elected to have a shoulder arthroscopy. Dr. Moore, who specializes in sports medicine, would repair a tear in Kurt’s superior labrum. Dr. Moore uses a simple, quick and relatively painless procedure. “There’s a lot less incision, a lot less injury to the muscle,” says Dr. Moore. “That’s one of the benefits we see with arthroscopic procedures. They allow patients to have less pain, use less medicine and get back to normal function with minimal pain and a lot faster than normal.”
After a few short months of treatment at Community Hospital Outpatient Therapy, Kurt’s motion & strength are back to normal! “It’s been six months now and I’m back in the pool, swimming hard, sprinting and staying up with those kids. It’s a lot of fun,” says Kurt.
This active athlete is forever thankful to Dr. Mac Moore and the entire Community Hospital team for putting him, comfortably, back where he belongs. For more information about Shoulder Repair at Community Hospital or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Mac Moore, call 405-692.3737.
