Ashley Frush

I work as a PTA at Rock Valley Physical therapy, therefore have received patients of Dr. Foad’s and had close professional ties with him prior to my injury. I have always been a very active individual participating in as many sports as possible as well as growing up a farm kid and throwing hay bales and logs. Needless to say, my body had already taken a beating and to top it off I was lifting/working out 5-7 days a week. I was warming up to performing a snatch lifting movement in July of 2019 for a continuing education course for work when the barbell caught too much momentum going overhead that it actually “went over my head” and I caught it behind me with the barbell touching the back of my legs with both hands remaining on the bar. I definitely felt a really good “stretch” from that, but continued to lift. Two days later while at the lake I was wake boarding and when the boat pulled, the nose of my board dipped under and caught but the boat kept going – so did my left shoulder. I heard and felt a pop and could tell it had become a lot more unstable. My friend whom I was with was in PT school at the time and diagnosed a probable Labrum tear.

Since healthcare workers are our own worst patients, I continued to work out and try to rehab my own shoulders back. By September when my shoulders had only gotten more painful and unstable it was fully affecting my job and lifting, so I finally made the much needed call to Dr. Foad. I knew all along that if it came to seeing an Orthopedic that he would be my first call. He got me in right away, but when I walked in his door I told him, “Dr. Foad my dream is to be on American Ninja Warrior; can we make that happen?” Without hesitation he told me, “I can’t give you what God gave you, but I can give you my best”. With testing and an MRI to my left shoulder he informed me that I was going to need surgery to fix the full SLAP tear as well as my bicep. I greatly appreciated his honesty from the very beginning because he told me that with my age and activity level we ARE doing surgery and I WILL fix everything while I’m in there.

Dr. Foad ALWAYS shows up. He demonstrates the best compassionate, driven, and family oriented approach to his care. I was more than impressed by his bedside manner and his ability to connect with each patient as well as giving them all quality time at each visit to answer questions and explain things in understandable terms. He knows his patients and he knew that he had to be very blunt with me and hold me back because each inch he gave me, he knew I would take it a mile. Ann and Heather were a great component of that care as well.

Two back to back shoulder surgeries later with one being a year out as I write this and the other now close to a year out, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am forever grateful for Dr. Foad and the great care that he provided me knowing what my goals were and continue to be, and trying to help get me back as close to all of that as possible. With that, I am now back to CrossFit mostly in full, but performing movements in a smart and modified fashion in order to protect my shoulders. They’re both stronger than I ever could have imagined, especially this quickly after the intense surgeries they underwent. I would choose Dr. Foad again and again, as I also continue to recommend him to my family and friends. It was well worth every drive. Thanks again to Dr. Foad and his care team!

Love, Ashley Frush