Surgery Gets Basketball Player Back on the Court Weeks After Shattering Forearm

At 63, Robert Cohan still plays competitive basketball against players half his age. The West New York, New Jersey, resident has played basketball and other sports, lifted weights and been a gym regular for nearly 50 years and sees no reason to slow down.

But on June 6 at Hoop Heaven, a much younger opponent jammed his elbow into Robert’s left forearm during a crucial play, shattering his radial bone.

“The pain was excruciating, but I kept playing because the referee didn’t call a foul,” says Robert, a litigation finance investor. “The kid fouled me again and said to me, ‘You’re too old for this,’ which just made me angry.”

By then, Robert could no longer move his fingers or lift his arm, so the game finally ended. He was a 40-minute drive from home, where his fiancé, Tara, was. Rather than driving straight to the hospital, he wanted Tara, who he says is a “boss” in these situations, to be by his side.

“At this point, I could not feel my left arm. When I came up to a toll booth, I tried to grab the wheel with my left hand, so I could reach for my E-ZPass, but my fingers wouldn’t grip the wheel,” he says.

Putting the Pieces Back Together

When they arrived at Palisades Medical Center, the Emergency Department was packed, and Robert began to feel light-headed. Tara got the staff’s attention, and they took Robert back for X-rays.

“I couldn’t even get myself into the position of the X-ray machine; I was in so much pain,” he says. “It took a few guys to hold me up. When they saw the X-ray, they immediately wrapped it because the break was so bad they were afraid that the bone was going to crack through the skin.”

Once he was comfortably situated in a room for the evening, Robert met with Siddhant Mehta, M.D., Ph.D., an orthopedic surgeon and chairman of orthopedic surgery at Palisades.

“Robert is a mentally tough individual who doesn't seem to complain, but his injury was significant,” Dr. Mehta says. “His radial bone was broken into three pieces.”

Robert says Dr. Mehta immediately calmed his nerves about his upcoming surgery.

“He showed me that he was knowledgeable and confident, which are, I think, the two most important things for a surgeon to be,” he says.

Dr. Mehta performed an extensive operation the following morning to fix Robert's fractured arm. After piecing the shattered bone back together, Dr. Mehta placed a stainless steel plate with screws to hold the broken bone in the correct position and alignment.

Back on the Court

The moment he woke up from surgery, Robert says he could move his fingers and felt no pain in his arm.

“Before surgery, I was so worried I’d never be able to play basketball again,” he says. “But when I realized I could move my fingers, I asked the doctor if I could still go on vacation the next week.” Dr. Mehta gave Robert his blessing.

The following week, Robert and his family took off for their Italian vacation, which included jumping off cliffs into the Mediterranean Sea—pain-free. After six weeks and some physical therapy, Robert was completely healed and is already back on the court playing as he always had.

“At first, I tried to play less physically,” he says. “But that didn’t last long.”

Next Steps & Resources

• Meet our source: Siddhant Kumar Mehta, M.D.
• To make an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon near you, call 800-822-8905 or visit our website.
• Learn more about orthopedics at Hackensack Meridian Health.