Your Healthcare Connection: Olympia Orthopaedic’s Cycling Team Partners with Doctors to Overcome Injury

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By Kate Scriven

oly ortho cycling team
Cindy Medlin (second from right) poses with other members of the Oly Ortho cycling team.

The Olympia Orthopaedic Associates Cycling Team is a diverse group of dedicated individuals who train, race, and ride together throughout the year.  Sponsored by Olympia Orthopaedics, the team features road, mountain, track and cyclo-cross racing.  This community of individuals is not simply dedicated to winning, but to the mentoring and promotion of bicycle racing throughout Thurston County.

Many doctors, nurses and team members at Oly Ortho are also avid athletes, giving them a different perspective when treating a competitive rider.  They understand the rigor put upon the body during intense competition and training and they know how eager an injured athlete is to get riding again.  Two such athletes are Cindy Medlin and Katie Kolan.  Both are fairly new to competitive cycling but have different areas of focus: road for Medlin and cyclo-cross for Kolan.  However they are both battling back from injury, working closely with their OOA team to get, and stay, healthy.

Cindy Medlin has always been a runner, competing at the highest level, including the Boston Marathon in 2003.  “I loved the stress release running gave me and would never have dreamed of giving that up,” she shared.

oly ortho cycling
Katie Kolan takes off on her cyclo-cross bike.

However in 2005, while deployed in Iraq, Medlin injured her right knee in an accident.  She continued to run, but in 2007 the pain became too much.  Her doctor recommended cleaning up her right meniscus and after a short break she was running again.  Yet, the pain returned, this time in her left knee.

Finally in 2010 her doctor said, “Cindy – enough,” Medlin shares.  He referred her to Olympia Orthopaedics for assessment where she met Dr. Thomas Helpenstell.

Dr. Helpenstell was a familiar face to Medlin.  He is an athlete as well, competing in triathlons regularly, and Medlin recognized him from workouts at their gym.  “After we chatted a bit, he just looked at me,” recalls Medlin, “and said, ‘Cindy, I think you need to think about doing something other than running.’”  He performed her first arthroscopic surgery and discovered her knees had fairly severe arthritis and he recommended leaving running behind completely and hopping on the bike.

She began indoor spin classes, but eventually missed the outdoor experience of her runs.  Dr. Helpenstall understood.  He loves it too.  When Medlin shared this with Dr. Helpenstell and her Physical Therapist, Diana Roberts, also a marathon runner and Ironman triathlete, they both suggested the OOA Cycling Team.

Medlin hadn’t considered competitive cycling before, but her innate competitive spirit took hold and she dove in.  “The women on the team were so inspirational.  They have so much knowledge and are so skilled.  They have taught me so much in a short time,” says Medlin.  For now, she is an official “fan” as she trains with the team and increases her endurance.  She aims to be a member next season.

oly ortho cycling
An x-ray of Katie Kolan’s wrist shows the damage caused as a result of her fall. Photo courtesy: Katie Kolan

But how could she give up a lifelong love of running?  “Dr. Helpenstell knew I needed the science behind what was happening to my knee, and that I needed to understand it, or I was never going to stop running,” she explains.  “He made sure that I understood – he focused on educating me – so that together we could make the best choices for my health.”  Medlin now sites biking as her favorite type of exercise, something she may never have discovered without the OOA Biking team.

Katie Kolan has always biked.  “In college I biked everywhere,” she shares, smiling, “but that was just because it was efficient and I was poor.”  Since living in Olympia, she has continued cycling but never competitively.    Then, about two years ago, she discovered the Olympia Orthopaedics Associates Cycling Team.  “I really wanted to become a better cyclist and I thought there’s no better way to do it than to surround myself with people who are better than me,” Kolan shares.

Kolan’s focus is Cyclo-Cross.  This form of racing, with origins over 100 years ago, consists of multiple laps of a short course consisting of pavement, wooded trails, steep hills, grass and obstacles requiring the rider to dismount and carry their bike. She jumped in with both feet, ready to train with the existing Olympia Orthopaedics Cyclo-cross team members.

However, her training came to a screeching halt almost before it started.  During a training ride in early fall 2013, she joined a partner to ride the trails of Millersylvania State Park. After a few laps they decided to switch it up and ride through the sand.  As she hit the soft ground, her tire skidded and she fell flew off the bike, into a picnic table.  “I realized immediately that something was not right,” she recalls.

That “something” was her arm, broken badly just above her wrist. “At first I was just irritated that my workout had been cut short, but when I got back to the car it dawned on me – there goes my season,” Kolan remembers.

olympia cycling team
Oly Ortho racers participate in road, mountain, track and cyclo-cross races.

“As inconvenient and messy as this whole ordeal was, everything at OOA was great from start to finish,” explains Kolan.  She worked with Dr. Kurt Anderson, one of Oly Ortho’s hand and upper extremity specialists.  Dr. Anderson assessed her injury the next day and recommended surgery immediately.  She now sports a few screws in her arm, a great scar, and a terrific story.

“Despite the mess I was in, walking down that hallway [at OOA’s Westside Clinic], was really cool.  Seeing the bike on the wall, knowing that Dr. Anderson is a mountain biker too,” explains Kolan, “I just knew I was in good hands.”  Dr. Anderson understood Kolan’s need to return to her sport.  Her plan of care was tailored to her specific lifestyle by a physician who really “got it”.

The outpatient surgery went smoothly in the Westside Surgery Center and after recovery, Kolan began work with Kate Sisco, the OOA Hand Therapist.  “Kate was super funny, generous, and got what I was going through.  Dr. Anderson was fantastic and it got even better as we went forward.”  From initial consult through PT exercises, the full team took Kolan’s values and lifestyle into consideration, creating a custom approach that helped her healing progress quickly and effectively.

“It was great to be a part of a system that really works.  I was motivated to heal and my motivation combined with their care and expertise has landed me here today, ready to ride again next season.”

For more information on the Olympia Orthopaedics Cycling Team visit the team webpage.

 

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