From Constant Pain to Race Training

A Client’s Journey Through Rehab and Beyond

Zooey Zullo came to see us with a long-standing shoulder pain condition. The pain had gotten so bad that day to day activities like getting dressed, washing her hair, driving, and sleeping caused intense pain. “I was taking a minimum of 1200 mg of naproxen daily plus muscle relaxants at night while suffering 2-3 debilitating migraine headaches a week. I was in lots of pain and truly thought I would need surgery to fix what I thought was a rotator cuff injury plus old age” recalled Zooey.

Enter Sharon McMonagle, PT, DPT. Sharon believed that she might be able to help Zooey avoid surgery. She used a combination of manual therapy including joint and soft tissue mobilization, postural re-training, trigger point therapy, and therapeutic exercise to correct her biomechanical abnormalities.

Zooey made rapid progress, and within 10 days noticed significant decrease in her pain. She was able to stop taking the nightly muscle relaxants, and didn’t suffer a weekly migraine for the first time in months. After three weeks she was sleeping through the night. As she steadily regained use of her left arm and shoulder, she was able to hold her coffee mug again – the small things that healthy people take for granted! At four weeks she was off all medication completely.

“Sharon is my new best friend. Her nimble fingers, take no-prisoners-attitude when it came to my daily exercise regime (i.e. do it or else!) along with her great sense of humor and hope for me buoyed me upward.”

Zooey was so motivated by her progress that she decided to transition to medically-based personal training with Joe Soojian after completion of PT to further her performance. Her next goal: tackling a Muderella event with her daughters. Muderella is a 5-7mile muddy obstacle course, with events held around the US, Canada, and Australia.

“I am now training with Joe, and it’s only been 8 weeks since I started PT! I would never have believed that I could have made this much progress so quickly or that I would consent to participating in a Muderella event with 20-something year olds. As corny as it sounds, I could NOT have mended without Sharon, Joe and the staff at Cioffredi & Associates!”