What’s Happening at Professional Orthopaedic Associates
We are proud to serve our community and we have an excellent reputation for providing the highest quality orthopaedic health care. As the area’s leader in orthopaedic medicine, we frequently distribute press releases to media, primary care physicians and the local community at large. Please click below to see what the latest news is at Professional Orthopaedic Associates.
5-07-08 Doctor Climbs Mount Kilimanjaro
3-07-08 Dr. Torpey in the news
1-22-08 Local Ortho Surgeons Earn Additional Sports Medicine Certificate
1-15-08 Local Surgeon Initiated into American College of Surgeons
10-22-07 Dr. Bade names Orthopaedic Honoree
7-17-07 David R. Gentile, MD conducts presentation at the Red Bank Atlantic Club.
5-07-07 Christopher Johnson, MD, FACS Recognized for Commitment to Global Health
5-01-07 Members of POA and their family and friends walked for the Arthritis Foundation
Dr. Jason D. Cohen is now a diplomat of the American Board of Spine Surgery
Dr. Glenn Gabisan educates athletes
Dr. Jason Cohen operates on Mustangs Coach
Orthopaedic Surgeon becomes Board Certified
Professional Orthopaedic Associates Physicians Receive Award
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Dr. Jason Cohen Operates on Mustangs Coach
From digitalsports.com
By Scott Stump - Staff Writer
It started with tingling in his arms and numbness in his upper body, and could have potentially ended with Fred Sprengel being paralyzed.
After three weeks of trying to get a magnetic resonance imaging test taken on his neck, the Brick Memorial head coach finally saw his doctor and received the results on Aug. 10. He was told he needed surgery on his neck, so he figured he could schedule it for late December, after the Mustangs’ had hopefully made a run deep into the state playoffs one year after they reached the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV final.
“My doctor said, ‘Are you kidding me?’’ Sprengel said. “He told me I needed surgery the next day. I’m listening to him and thinking, ‘I could be paralyzed for good?’’
A bulging disc in his neck was pushing so hard against Sprengel’s spinal cord that any sudden snapping of the neck, like a fender-bender in traffic or a runner knocking into him on his way out of bounds, could sever his spinal cord and render him paralyzed.
“When your spinal cord is that pressed, you can lose the use of your arms,’’ Sprengel said.
Visions of Brian Malast, Nick Buoniconti and Damian Peter flooded his mind. Malast is a former Manchester standout and New Jersey state trooper who was paralyzed when he was hit during a high-speed chase earlier this year. Buoniconti, an NFL Hall of Famer, has led a fight to cure paralysis since his son Marc suffered a spinal cord injury in 1985. Peter is a former Middletown South star and Notre Dame recruit who broke his neck in a pool accident in 1994, and although he recovered, he never played football again.
Sprengel had to deal with the fears in a hurry as surgery was scheduled immediately for the next day at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch with spinal surgeon Dr. Jason Cohen.
“I’m scared to death as they’re asking me a million times if I have a living will,’’ Sprengel said. “My wife (Michelle) was in tears as we’re in the car leaving the place after finding out how bad it was.’’
He had undergone neck surgery once already, when he had two vertebrae fused in 2001 and could not drive a car for three months. He said his neck woes came from all those years of banging helmets as a former star for Wall High School during the championship days in the early 1980s under current St. John Vianney coach John Amabile and later as an offensive lineman at Ithaca (N.Y.) College.
“We led with our helmets a little more back then,’’ he said.
Cohen told him that the recovery period from this surgery would be three weeks, but in typical football coach fashion, he didn’t believe him.
“We’re in the waiting room before the surgery, and I almost bolted out of there,’’ he said. “I was having second thoughts. I didn’t believe them that I would be back. My wife’s like, ‘Are you nuts?’ You’d rather risk being paralyzed?’’’
A horizontal incision about two inches long was made on Sprengel’s throat in a surgery that he said took several hours. He had told the team that he would not be at practice because of some medical reasons, and then had titanium screws inserted to relieve the pressure on his spine.
By Aug. 14, he was back at preseason practice, wearing a neck brace and, of course, not sitting in the golf cart that he was supposed to be using to rest on. He wore the brace for a week and had to be driven to practice, but the contraption still couldn’t hide the trademark scowl on his face or stop him from barking at his team as ferociously as ever. With a Mustangs squad loaded up for a run at the school’s second state sectional title in history, the expectations are as high as they can go.
“If (Sprengel) is here, his presence is felt,’’ senior lineman Jamie Pratt said before laughing.
“Not only felt, but heard,’’ said senior fullback Vinnie Falkiewicz. “We didn’t really know exactly what the problem was, but if anybody is going to get through it, it’s coach Sprengel.’’
“We knew he would be all right,’’ senior running back Prince Young said before smiling.
It was just the latest medical problem for Sprengel, who tore the right pectoral muscle in his chest in April while lifting weights. He said the doctors believed there may have been a connection between the pressure on his spine and the weakening of his pectoral muscle that could’ve caused the painful tear.
Now back prowling the sidelines after enduring a harrowing couple of days, Sprengel is in the midst of preparing the Mustangs to face a formidable Long Branch team in the season opener. He is a former head coach at Long Branch, and led the Green Wave to the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II final in 1996.
Luckily for him, right now worrying about Long Branch is the only pain in his neck.
Originally posted at www.digitalsports.com/NJ/ScottStump/neckoftime.htm
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