Ciminiello Success Story

The condition: Drew Martin knew the moment he felt a pop in his knee during a Friday night football game that the injury was serious.  Soon after, his knee swelled up and he experienced severe pain and could not put weight on his leg. However, so many friends and family members recommended Dr. Ciminiello at OrthoConnecticut that the three-sport high school athlete felt he was going to the best possible doctor to help him recover.  After his first appointment, he felt even better.  “Dr. Ciminiello made me feel so comfortable, and I trusted I’d be getting the right course of treatment. He played college baseball so he understands athletes, which made me feel like he understood what I was going through,” Drew explains. The treatment: After an evaluation and tests, Dr. Ciminiello determined that Drew had torn both his ACL and meniscus, and sprained his MCL.  Drew underwent surgery to repair the tears within a month.  “I felt lucky that, even with Covid, I was able to have my surgery scheduled very quickly,” Drew adds, noting that other friends with similar injuries had to wait months to have surgery at other practices. While the surgery was successful, Drew admits the first few weeks after were difficult because he was unable to stand.  “Just sitting around was so hard for me” he recalls.  Within two weeks he could get around on crutches and return to school, and after five weeks he was able to begin physical therapy at Motion Physical Therapy, located at OrthoConnecticut’s Riverview office.  “Having my PT at the same place was really useful,” Drew explains, adding that it made communications between Dr. Ciminiello  and the therapist very easy. The result: While the typical timeline for an injury like Drew’s is 9-12 months of bi-weekly PT with daily home exercises to

 I’ve long believed that everyone has 11 skills in life. Whether it be gardening, running, navigating an estate sale or finding a new shortcut we all have a few identifiable things that we’re just better at than most other people. Along with those skills, however, is the other side of the coin where we either just don’t get it or aren’t built to be as good at something as other people. Personally, a few of my skills are working a grill, hitting long irons out of the rough, and public speaking. On the other side, my Achilles heel is…well, my Achilles heel.I’ve played basketball my entire life and have easily logged thousands of hours on a basketball court. In 2002 I was in a game that was completely indistinguishable from any other, except at one point I pivoted and collapsed, blowing out my right Achilles tendon. The full tear was the complete “window shade” effect – a description as accurate as it is wince-inducing. I had surgery a few days later, and an incision was made at my heel and then they simply cut up the back of my leg until they found the other, rolled-up piece of the tendon. It was pulled it down, the two pieces were tied back together and I was stitched back up. The cast and staples were removed from the 10” incision several weeks later, and after a few months of medication and rehab I was back to 70% of my old self in about 8 months and was happy with the progress. I was careful to avoid any quick-twitch or explosive activities (tennis, basketball, etc.) for at least another year as much out of fear as anything else. There’s no doubt that between the injury, the rehab and the length of time it

The condition: Colleen, a Physical Therapy graduate student working toward her doctorate at University of Connecticut, was working out at the campus gym when a squat bar holding 200 pounds of weights fell off a rack and on to her. The result was a broken clavicle, in addition to a puncture wound to her lower abdomen. After a night in the hospital for the wound, she went straight to Dr. Angelo Ciminiello’s office at Danbury Orthopedics. Both of her parents, who live in Danbury, had been patients of Dr. Ciminiello and she knew she could trust him to treat her quickly and professionally. An x-ray revealed that her clavicle was broken in two places. Although Dr. Ciminiello told her that it was possible to wait and see if the bones would repair on their own, Colleen opted for surgery to get back into her physical routine and training as quickly as possible. The treatment: Only 48 hours after being evaluated, Colleen was in surgery. Dr. Ciminiello repaired her clavicle with a permanent titanium plate and six screws. “Colleen is an active, young woman who had a devastating injury. We discussed various treatment options and felt that surgical fixation of her clavicle would allow her to get back to her active lifestyle the quickest,” explains Dr. Ciminiello. Three days later Colleen was back in school, and began stretching and lifting light weights to regain mobility in her arm and increase strength. The result: Just three months post-surgery, Colleen could return to a full personal exercise regimen and do all her work as a physical therapist. She is glad that she did not “wait and see,” since if she had not healed on her own, she still would have had to have surgery and been out of commission even longer. She is