Patient Success Story · Post-Surgical & Complex · Surgery Recovery + 50-Year Injury Healed
Since coming to Synergy Therapeutic, I have regained full use of my leg following surgery for synovial chondromatosis. I also have greatly reduced stiffness and soreness in my neck, which was the result of a 50-year-old injury.
— Neth Hass
What was happening
Neth came to Synergy for post-surgical rehabilitation following surgery for synovial chondromatosis — a condition where the synovial lining of a joint produces loose cartilaginous bodies that cause pain and limited movement. The surgery addressed the joint. The recovery was where the rest of the work happened.
He also carried a 50-year-old neck injury. Five decades of stiffness, soreness, and accommodation that had been part of his daily life since he was much younger.
What other providers missed
Post-surgical care is often delivered as a checklist focused only on the surgical site. Range goals, strength goals, return-to-activity timeline. Get the leg back, discharge. Anything else — the old injuries, the longer-standing patterns — gets left out because it is outside the scope of the post-op plan.
And a 50-year-old neck injury? Most providers would not even attempt it. The assumption is that an injury that old is what it is. The body has been holding the pattern long enough that change is unlikely.
What we did differently
Our team treated both. The post-surgical work brought Neth’s leg back to full use — manual therapy, progressive loading, and movement re-education appropriate to his recovery stage. At the same time, we addressed the neck. Not as a separate problem, but as part of the whole body that was now in our care.
Old patterns are still patterns. The body is still capable of change. With the right input, even a 50-year holding pattern can release — not always fully, but meaningfully.
The outcome
Full use of the leg post-surgery. Greatly reduced stiffness and soreness in a neck that had been bothering him for half a century.
When a patient receives care that addresses the whole person rather than just the chief complaint, the results often surprise everyone — including the patient who had given up on the older problem.
Related care at Synergy
For post-surgical recovery and the older patterns that often surface alongside it, our post-surgical rehab page walks through how we approach this kind of presentation.
Have a similar condition?
Book a consultation with Synergy →