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 thrilled and relieved that she could return to work so quickly. “Dr. Ciminiello was great. He spent so much time with me making sure I understood the pros and cons of surgery, and I could see that he really cared about me having an excellent outcome,” she explains. Today she is in peak shape, and can sumo dead lift 160 pounds, and do a 155 pound squat lift.