Month: October 2015

Robert Nutt says he is retired, but his daily planner paints another picture. As president and managing director of Paceline Advisors, a strategic business and financial consulting firm Nutt created after 30 years in corporate finance and operations, he travels constantly and volunteers for three organizations and businesses. His hectic schedule does not leave much time for relaxation, let alone skiing, bicycling and running marathons. In fact, a bicycling accident during a training ride in Scottsdale, Arizona, almost ended Nutt’s ability to participate in any recreational activities.

According to Nutt, he was about 40 miles from the start when another rider accidently clipped his back tire causing him to fall. “It happened so quickly I was on the ground before I knew what happened and my left knee took the brunt of my fall,” Nutt explained. Unable to finish the ride, he was taken to the emergency room where doctors gave him the bad news. “I tore my medial collateral and posterior cruciate and anterior cruciate ligaments (MCL, PCL, ACL), as well as my meniscus,” he said. “They put a brace on my knee to stabilize it and I flew home to Darien, Illinois, uncertain if I’d ever be able to race again, let alone be able to ride a bike,” Nutt said.

To allow his knee swelling to subside, Nutt started a conservative physical therapy under the care of an orthopaedic surgeon at Hinsdale Orthopaedics in Hinsdale, Illinois, before being referred to the practice’s arthroscopic shoulder and knee specialist and a US News & World Report Top Doctor in orthopaedics, Dr. Steven Chudik.

“As a Type A personality, I’m not one to sit so I wanted to proceed with surgery as soon as Dr. Chudik explained that was the only solution for me to have even a chance of running or biking again,” Nutt said. “I learned later that Dr. Chudik told my wife after my surgery he’d be surprised if I’d ever be able to run more than 10 miles at one time because of the extensive damage he repaired during my five hour operation. She told him not to tell me that and I’m glad neither did,” Nutt laughed.

“Robert tore nearly every ligament in his knee,” Dr. Chudik explained. “It was a terrible injury. His recovery is a testament to his determination and commitment to completing his rehabilitation program and returning to his active lifestyle,” he added.

Following five weeks in a brace, six months of physical therapy three times per week and home exercises every day, Dr. Chudik cleared Nutt to resume his activities limiting his bike riding to just one to two miles per day to start. According to Nutt, that did not last long. “I regularly ride a couple hundred miles a week, and was anxious to get back to running and biking. My come back goal was the Mercedes Benz Marathon in Alabama and to participate in RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa),” he said. RAGBRAI is the longest, largest and oldest annual bicycle-touring event started in 1973 as a friendly challenge between two Des Moines Register newspaper employees. According to the Register’s event information, the annual, seven-day ride averages nearly 500 miles beginning with a traditional dipping of riders’ back tires in the Missouri River and ending with the dunking of their front tires in the Mississippi River.

Today, Nutt annually competes in several marathons a year, RAGBRAI and downhill skis without hesitation or reservation. “I’m very grateful to Dr. Chudik for giving me back my active lifestyle. I can’t imagine what I’d be doing if it were not for him,” Nutt said.

If you’ve never seen a rugby game, the best way to describe it is football without helmets and pads. As a full-contact sport without protective gear, rugby players are prone to orthopaedic injuries—just ask Shawn Bastic, former University of Illinois—Chicago (UIC) and founding member of the Chicago Riot Rugby Club.

While playing rugby for UIC, Bastic dislocated his left shoulder in the fall of 2002. He completed rehabilitation and the following spring dislocated his shoulder again. “I was told by the physician that dislocations commonly reoccur,” explained Bastic. “To help prevent it from possibly happening again, I opted for surgery and went through the entire rehabilitation process, again.”

However, his recovery was short lived. During the next three years, Bastic dislocated his left shoulder several more times, each time requiring a trip to the emergency room and ultimately another surgery at the same highly-respected Chicago hospital. The repeated dislocations, surgeries and months of rehabilitation didn’t dissuade Bastic from playing. “I continued to play,” said Bastic. “I just wasn’t ready to give up the game.”

Eventually, though, the dislocations got to be too much. “My shoulder continued to dislocate frequently and at random, odd times, like reaching overhead, working out, or just doing everyday tasks,” Bastic said. “I wanted to remain active, but also knew I had to do something or as I got older I was going to have even worse problems.”

Fortunately, a teammate’s father was an orthopaedic surgeon and referred Bastic to Dr. Steven Chudik, an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine physician with the Steven Chudik Shoulder and Knee Injury Clinic who specializes in shoulder and knee arthroscopic surgery. Upon examining Bastic’s shoulder, Dr. Chudik ordered a 3-D CT scan that confirmed what he suspected—a damaged shoulder socket (glenoid) that previous surgeries didn’t correct.

“Shawn’s prior surgeries failed because the surgeons missed the injury to the shoulder socket,” Dr. Chudik said. “The socket is like a golf tee and if part of it is missing, it can’t hold the golf ball in place,” he explained. In the case of a glenoid, the broken portion is absorbed so bone has to be taken from another part of the body to rebuild the socket. According to Dr. Chudik, this seldom-performed surgery is done in America through an open incision and requires cutting the rotator cuff and dislocating the shoulder. Fortunately for Bastic, Dr. Chudik developed a procedure and surgical instruments to reconstruct the glenoid arthroscopically and he was the first in the country to undergo the procedure. “Since Shawn’s surgery, I’ve done many more all with great outcomes like his,” Dr. Chudik said.

Although no longer playing rugby, Bastic remains active in the sport refereeing games in Chicago and the Midwest. He also competed in a Half Iron Man race and several Crossfit challenges that included weight lifting and rowing. “I’m doing things now I couldn’t before my surgery with Dr. Chudik,” Bastic explained. I have my active lifestyle back and I’m looking forward to being able to play with my daughter as she grows up. Maybe even teach her how to play rugby,” he joked.