Super Performing at Work and at Home by Robert James Cerfolio

Author:Robert James Cerfolio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: River Grove Books
Published: 2014-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

Rehabilitation Starts the Day of Your Injury

I had just finished performing a long, difficult robotic lobectomy that took over four hours. I was still learning how to sit and operate for that long at the robotic console; I was used to standing for ten hours and operating, but not used to sitting. My back and neck were sore, and I knew I had to make some adjustments. Doing more P90X abdominal rippers was not the answer; I needed to fix this problem and fix it fast if I were to continue using this surgical tool.

So I carefully reviewed my ergonomics, examining the details of the chair as well as letting a medical student film me while I was operating robotically. I discovered that despite the multiple ergonomic adjustments on the robotic console, the chair was the weak link.

To solve the problem, I bought my own chair and kept its setting the same. This eliminated the chair as a variable. This adjustment—as well as others derived from the videotape—now lets me operate robotically for five to six hours a day with almost no pain.

The key to success, especially under pressure, is to eliminate and/or reduce as many variables as you can—to increase the reproducibility of your actions and of your team’s actions. Recently I operated in India as a visiting professor in several different hospitals, teaching them new surgical techniques. I brought my own headlight, the surgical mask and hat that I am used to and that I wear every day in Birmingham at UAB, and even my own surgical shoes (clogs). This helped reduce my variables of operating in different countries and hospitals.

Back and neck pain are common injuries for surgeons, just as elbow and shoulder injuries are for pitchers. I was just getting out of the operating room on my way home when Robby called me. I could tell from his voice that something was seriously wrong. He had just finished an intrasquad scrimmage, and on the last pitch he heard a pop in his left elbow—his pitching elbow—and he knew it was serious.

A few days later, we found out that he had suffered an injury to his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). Fortunately—after Robby saw Jimmy Andrews, probably the best-known orthopedic surgeon in the world, who lives right in my hometown of Birmingham—we found out that surgery was not needed. Dr. Andrews recommended intense rehabilitation.

Robby started his rehab immediately, the day after his injury. We then spent the next few days reviewing his pitching and throwing form carefully from my own videotapes of his games. We painstakingly studied his mechanics frame by frame, identified changes that he made with his new pitching coach, and immediately readjusted his mechanics. The careful videotape review and attention to his mechanics provided him with newfound confidence in his pitching, just as it did for me while I was learning to operate with the robot. Robby knew he would not get hurt now, and he was eager and excited to get back on the mound and reengage in the challenge of baseball.

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