Daniel Jones has an ankle in his shoulder. His surgeon Dr. Christopher Pokabla calls it “Arthoscopic Distal Tibial Allograft Augmentation for Posterior Shoulder Instability with Glenoid Bone Loss.”

Daniel just calls it relief.

The Injury 

Daniel’s shoulder issues began when he was a football player in high school. He was bench pressing one day when he felt immense pain in his right shoulder. He found out had torn his labrum and would require surgical intervention. While that initial injury kept Daniel off the field for the rest of his senior year, he was still able to retain a college football scholarship and play on his college team.

The Re-Injury

But in 2018, while running drills at practice, an awkward tackle left Daniel with another dislocated shoulder. He knew immediately that the previous repair had been damaged.

“I had numbness, tingling, sharp pain, limited range of motion, and weakness in my arm,” he said. “There were days that I could hardly get dressed because of the pain. Moving and lifting was excruciating.”

Daniel knew that he needed to be seen again. He made an appointment, and was referred to Dr. Christopher Pokabla at OrthoSouth (then Memphis Orthopaedic Group).

Dr. Pokabla took x-ray images and reviewed the results with Daniel. At the same appointment, Dr. Pokabla ordered a shoulder CT for additional images of his bones and an MRI for his neck to rule out neck injury. Once the testing was completed, Dr. Pokabla explained to Daniel that he would require another surgery. The recurrent shoulder dislocations he experienced had left him with bone loss in the shoulder joint, making a traditional repair difficult and potentially less successful.

The Non-Traditional Solution

Dr. Pokabla then suggested a non-traditional surgical solution. His research had led him to a paper in a medical journal detailing how another surgeon had successfully used a cadaver ankle bone to correct bone loss in the shoulder of a patient. Dr. Pokabla thoroughly researched this technique and was confident that it was the best solution to Daniel’s injury. Presented with this new option, Daniel says he “put all trust in Dr. Pokabla and his abilities as a surgeon.”

Success!

Since the second surgery, Daniel has been able to resume all daily activities, including lifting weights. He says he is completely satisfied with the results of his surgery.

“I wasn’t expecting to be able to do as much as I am able to do,” said Daniel. “He did an amazing job and I recommend him to anyone experiencing shoulder pain. I even referred my grandfather to him after my surgery.”

Dr. Pokabla, for his part, is thrilled at Daniel’s return to normalcy. “Daniel was an excellent candidate for this procedure,” he says. “I am always honored that my patients put their trust in me for their care, and Daniel went even further. He was the first patient in the state to have this surgery, and it could not have gone better.”

For more information about Dr. Pokabla or to make an appointment, click here.