SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – We’re talking about a familiar face, KTIV Weekend Morning Anchor RJ Breen. Prior to his time at Signal Hill, he was an area college athlete.
Let’s take a look back at his uniform days. He just finished his football season with the Briar Cliff Chargers and it was time to take his talents to the track.
“I was really excited. I’ve loved track and field ever since I started running in middle school, and I was so happy to be able to continue that at the collegiate level,” said former Briar Cliff University athlete RJ Breen. Ta.
At Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska, he ran the 200-meter dash in his first indoor track and field meet.
“It was a great feeling to be able to throw in the uniform and put my cleats back on,” Breen said.
RJ Breen was a freshman at Briar Cliff University and was ready to give the Chargers a win.
“You’re dealing with kids from the tri-states. Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and I mean all over the country. So some of them were from all over the world,” Breen said. Said.
He remembers that day clearly.
“This was during COVID-19 and there was no audience. This will all be done on a livestream,” Breen said.
He was in lane 5.
“After about 50 meters, they all came down,” Breen said. “When you come around the corner, just look and you’ll see me right there, Dawn.”
“This is his collarbone. He had a fracture in the middle third of his collarbone, which was the most likely area to break,” said Dr. Joshua Hockett.
CNOS Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Josh Hockett specializes in orthopedic trauma.
“It’s a direct side blow to the shoulder,” Dr. Hockett said.
Dr Hockett said he had looked at his injury records and it was clear there had been significant displacement.
“They were more than 100 percent evacuated. He had more than 2 cm of shortening and currently, if we have to choose a clavicle fracture for treatment, it would be most beneficial to treat it surgically.” There’s some excellent literature on that,” Dr. Hockett said.
Breen underwent surgery, and Dr. Hockett was able to realign the fracture. He was an athlete and physically strong, so his recovery was good.
“I usually start moving the shoulder immediately after surgery, based on the patient’s pain tolerance, to keep it as mobile as possible,” Dr. Hockett said.
As for lifting, Dr. Hockett restricted Breen’s movements for about six weeks while he underwent physical therapy. Complete healing usually occurs within an average of three months and the patient is able to play full contact sports again. Breen’s athletic ability helped keep his healing on track.
“As you can see, this is his left clavicle. This is after the fixation. This will probably be the last radiograph to show good healing of the clavicle fracture, meaning that the plate is on the front of the bone. There, and then you can see there’s another plate right on top of the bone with multiple screws attached to the fracture,” Dr. Hockett said.
Dr. Hockett said it is his mission to help patients return to normalcy.
“I just like getting people back to their normal daily lives. They get very seriously injured and in critical condition. We get them back to function, and sometimes it’s not necessarily the same as before. , we’re able to at least get some semblance of normalcy back into their lives, and it’s really great to see that process,” Dr. Hockett said.
Breen trusted the process. His road to recovery finally brought him back to the gridiron of the playing field.
“Actually, I started playing spring ball at that 12-week mark and got used to practices and things like that. A lot of non-contact stuff. And then probably about two or three weeks after that, I started hitting the helmet and putting the pads on. I went back to hitting and running the whole nine yards with full boards,” Breen said.
Breen was able to return to the football field and play a full season. CNOS Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Josh Hockett practices out of the CNOS Dakota Dunes location.
Click this link to learn more about CNOS Sports Medicine.
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