After suffering an ACL injury, Delaney faced significant challenges both on and off the soccer field. The injury affected her mobility, strength, balance and mental health, making everyday activities uncomfortable and preventing her from participating in the sport she...
After completing physical therapy and Dr. Steven Chudik’s return-to-throwing program in 2025, Colin Sweeney successfully returned to competitive baseball. Colin went on to complete a successful senior season with Downers Grove Varsity Baseball, helping lead the...
“Dr. Chudik gave me my life back!” Susan struggled with constant pain from massive rotator cuff tears in both shoulders. Her injuries made everyday activities painful, including lifting objects and sleeping comfortably. In 2015, Susan underwent massive rotator cuff...
After suffering a fall on his icy driveway approximately 10 years ago, Michael Wirtz experienced years of shoulder pain before undergoing shoulder replacement surgery with Dr. Steven Chudik in April 2021. Over time, Michael also developed problems with his other...
“Thank you for all your help repairing Andy’s non-union clavicle, and for all the follow up efforts through PT, MRI and EMG to ensure his lingering nerve issue was addressed. Over the last year post-surgery we have seen him grow into a strong young man, very happy to...
When Kennedy’s elbow first started bothering her, the injury began affecting much more than gymnastics. She struggled to participate fully in her sport, had difficulty carrying her school and gym bags, and dealt with her elbow locking up frequently. Behind that pain...
Adam Retzler’s journey with Dr. Steven Chudik began nearly 15 years ago when Dr. Chudik performed surgery on his right bicep. Reflecting on that time, Adam shares, “During that recovery, I was forced to become a temporary leftie, which taught me a new level of...
After tearing his ACL in a skiing accident in February 2023, Bryan Surek was determined to return to an active lifestyle, especially running and competing in dog agility with his dog. Following surgery with Dr. Steven Chudik and dedicated physical therapy, Bryan...
Meet Maya Wilson, a determined soccer player who faced the challenges of an ACL injury but emerged stronger and more resilient than ever - physically and mentally. How did your injury impact your daily life? My ACL injury significantly impacted both my physical...
Three months and two weeks after shoulder surgery with Dr. Steven Chudik, Len Serwat hit a 130-yard hole-in-one on #4 at Flagg Creek in Countryside, Illinois, during his first golf outing of the year. A hole-in-one for any golfer is an accomplishment, but for Serwat...
Imagine slamming into a tree going more than 20 miles per hour with only the protection of a helmet. Imagine that same scenario, but as a petite downhill skier getting hit so hard by a snowboarder that you are lifted off the snow and thrust into a pine tree becoming a...
Emmanuel Morris was anxious for his sophomore year at Hinsdale South High School to begin. After all, he earned Most Valuable Player and All-Conference baseball honors his freshman year so his future appeared to be on track to achieve his dream of playing Division I...
Returning home after a vacation is never fun. For Susan Swanson, though, leaving her Michigan vacation with friends changed the next year of her life. Leaving the hotel lobby, Swanson slipped on the hotel atrium floor and crumpled to the ground with her left leg bent...
After sitting at a desk all day managing insurance investments, Scott Edwards looks forward to his recreational activities of running and playing hockey. However, Edwards is not just a casual participant. He plays on several hockey clubs, as well as pick-up games when...
Steve Quirk admits he hasn’t always been a model patient. Like the time he was running within days of his first knee surgery because he had less than one month to prepare for the New York Marathon. Just so happened he ran past the home of Dr. Steven Chudik who had...
If you ask Greg Beggs, patent lawyer, gardener, golfer, former Downers Grove Village Zoning Board and Plan Commission member, Downers Grove Chamber of Commerce enthusiast and grandfather of 10, success throughout his life came because he was in the right place at the...
No good deed goes unpunished according to the adage. Unfortunately, Robert Kmoch experienced the maxim firsthand when he and fellow fishing club members were setting a pier as part of their fishing club’s membership obligation. Kmoch slipped while carrying a shovel...
15/02/2017 ; Wellington FL ; Winter Equestrian Festival - Week 6 ; 5940, CLEGGAN, SARAH LEWENSOHN ; adult amateur hunter 50+ ; Sportfot You may know a little girl who always wanted a pony, or maybe you were that girl. Sarah Lewensohn was. At a young age, she took...
Since 2008, participation in hiking and backpacking in the United States has increased 62 percent to more than 47 million people. Mark Frantz is one of them having backpacked since the early 1990s among the beauty of the Rockies, Sierras and Teton mountains, as well...
Next time you take an escalator, think of Jim Dombro. He rides one at least twice a day in Chicago’s Union Station on his way to and from work. However, one rainy October day on his way home Dombro was walking, not riding, down the escalator when his foot slipped and...
Kathy Irwin’s weekends are filled with swimming and gymnastic meets, and basketball, soccer, hockey and baseball games. However, they weren’t before Dr. Steven Chudik with the Steven Chudik MD Shoulder, Knee and Sports Medicine Injury Clinic replaced her two arthritic...
Imagine being a young mother and not able to lift or hold your baby, reach into the clothes dryer, back your car out of the driveway, or even reach for a cup in a cabinet without the fear of a shoulder dislocation. For Debbie Brand, those were just some of the daily...
Kevin Kucera is among the countless people who suffer aches and pains after they move, lift, push and pull things. However, the day after Kucera moved a heavy display on his own at work, his shoulder was exceptionally sore. Kucera, an customer service representative...
The last thing a highly recruited high school athlete wants to hear is they are going to miss playing their senior year and potentially lose a Division 1 opportunity because of an injury. That is what Lyons Township (LT) High School football and All American lacrosse...
Teaching your children to snowboard should be a fun and rewarding experience, or so Nick Nagel thought until he found himself planted face down in a snow bank with a shoulder injury. However, it would be a year later with many league hockey games in the record books,...
With barely 5 minutes remaining in the Illinois Class 8A state championship final, the No. 2-rated Bolingbrook High School Raiders trailed the No. 1-rated Loyola Academy Ramblers from Wilmette, 17-14. Junior Bolingbrook quarterback Aaron Bailey was in the toughest...
One minute 8-year-old Matt Cesario was sitting atop a swing set with a neighbor and the next he was hanging from the side support brace by his right knee—a twist of fate that spared Matt’s spine and changed the course of his young life for the next five years. Matt...
Robert Nutt says he is retired, but his daily planner paints another picture. As president and managing director of Paceline Advisors, a strategic business and financial consulting firm Nutt created after 30 years in corporate finance and operations, he travels...
Most people in Northern Illinois will remember the winter of 2011 for the Ground Hog Day blizzard. Tony Santi, founder and president of J2 Santi, Inc. custom homebuilding, youth athletic coach and weekend athlete from Western Springs, Ill., recalls it differently. In...
Imagine slamming into a tree going more than 20 miles per hour with only the protection of a helmet. Imagine that same scenario, but as a petite downhill skier getting hit so hard by a snowboarder that you are lifted off the snow and thrust into a pine tree becoming a...
If you’ve never seen a rugby game, the best way to describe it is football without helmets and pads. As a full-contact sport without protective gear, rugby players are prone to orthopaedic injuries—just ask Shawn Bastic, former University of Illinois—Chicago (UIC) and...