When Brinley was 8 years old, she broke her arm at gymnastics from a very simple “trip and fall” after a cartwheel – it was the day before Christmas. It was odd she broke her arm from a fall like that but strange things happen. Brinley was terrified.
We went to another orthopedic center first and the doctor there said, “Her arm will be fine, no need to reset it. She’d regain full range of motion as she grew and the bone straightened out”. She was doing competitive gymnastics and her coach told us to see Dr. Heikes at Twin Cities Orthopedics. We called for a second opinion and got in with Dr. Heikes immediately. Our nightmare turned around the minute we met her. Due to her experience in the sports world, she knew Brinley would need full range of motion as soon as she was healed. She scheduled us for surgery and Brinley’s arm was re-set.
The experience was nothing short of fantastic, from the nurses to the anesthesiologist everyone bent over backwards to make her experience a good one. Brinley’s arm healed up fine and we were back in business. Then, she broke her arm again – in the exact same spot. Dr. Heikes immediately thought something was up and ran blood work. Turns out, Brinley had a big Vitamin D deficiency. If it wasn’t for Dr. Heikes’ thorough treatment, we may never have figured that out and could have been in for many more breaks and fractures as time went on. I cannot say enough about our experience, from the wonderful bedside manner to making special casts for Brinley each time she needed a new one, Christie Heikes and her team went above and beyond. We have returned to Dr. Heikes with all our orthopedic needs over time and have referred many friends to her – and will continue to do so.
