Professor Noorani performs open reduction and internal fixation surgery to restore Robbie’s collarbone and give him the use of his shoulder again.

A nasty bike accident left Robbie with a broken collarbone and he needed to get back to full fitness quickly to help care for his sick wife.

Robbie damaged his clavicle when knocked off bike by a hit-and-run van driver around lunchtime on Christmas Eve, leaving him unable to use his right shoulder. He describes it as if someone had put a ‘Harry Potter’ spell on him that had turned his shoulder to jelly.

He was referred to Professor Noorani by his private GP who knew Professor Noorani and described him as “the best upper limb surgeon I know” and “the one all professional sports people go to” when surgery elsewhere has proved unsuccessful. Robbie didn’t know what to expect from his surgery but he was aware from visiting A&E, that he had suffered a complicated break of over eight pieces, and that determined his choice of the best possible surgeon, Professor Noorani.

Following his surgery with Professor Noorani, he is now feeling “excellent”. He managed to walk 380km in January, followed by 545km in February and achieved 40 sessions of 40-minute physiotherapy/weightlifting in March. Now, in April, he is swimming a mile a day front crawl and is back in the saddle, riding his bike for between 20-30km when the weather is good. A fit person prior to his accident, he had to take January and February off doing any strenuous activity with his shoulder and is estimates that in one to two months, he will be back to full fitness.

He is full of praise for Professor Noorani: “Ali is clearly a brilliant surgeon.  He is confident in his abilities – which I like in someone doing something important to my body; he was kind, understanding, intelligent and fun.  I had a complete understanding of what he planned to do and the risks / rewards. I was SO PLEASED to be in his care.  I think we did a zoom consultation on Christmas Eve at 10pm, way above and beyond any call of duty. I was so impressed and delighted by the fact that he would do this for me.  In this COVID period he managed to operate on 30th December (partly because my wife had cancer, so I had to be fit to help her).  It was a genuinely difficult operation (I have seen the videos). I had zero pain from day 2. I have been careful to convalesce appropriately, but Ali (and his practice manager Jas) have been brilliant. I could not recommend him more highly.”

And he has a simple message for patients with similar problems. “Get Professor Noorani!”

In March Robbie did 40 sessions of light weight training to continue his physio and is now able to swim a mile of front crawl reasonably comfortably.

Professor Noorani concludes: “Robbie has done really well, and I’m so pleased he is on his way back to full fitness.”