From Procedure Prep to Recovery: Meet PA Hannah Abbe

 

For Physician Assistant Hannah Abbe, joining Breakthrough Regenerative Orthopedics meant moving from a healthcare environment where treatment options could sometimes feel limited to one where she could help patients work toward restoring function and getting back to the activities that matter to them. Her background in urgent care and pain management gives her a broad perspective on orthopedic conditions, while her role at Breakthrough allows her to spend significant time educating patients, preparing them for regenerative procedures and following their progress throughout recovery. She also brings another valuable perspective to that role: Hannah has been a Breakthrough patient herself.

How did your background in Urgent Care and Pain Management prepare you for Regenerative Orthopedics?

Urgent care gave me experience with a broad range of diagnoses and patient presentations. I was able to see a lot of different orthopedic complaints and learn how patients can present very differently, even when they're dealing with similar problems.

Pain management was eye-opening in a different way. I learned a lot about how modern medicine operates and how factors such as insurance coverage can influence the care that's available to a patient. I often felt limited in the tools I had available and in how much recovery we could actually help a patient achieve. That's one of the things I really appreciate about Breakthrough. We can look at what we believe is appropriate for the patient and talk through the options with them rather than having insurance determine which treatment path we're allowed to pursue. It feels good to be able to focus on helping patients regain function, improve their quality of life and reduce their pain in a more holistic way.

What attracted you to Breakthrough Regenerative Orthopedics?

When I saw the position at Breakthrough, it seemed like a natural transition from what I had been doing. Then I came in and met everybody, and I could immediately tell it was a very genuine group of people.

I also saw how interested Dr. Mazzola was in teaching. He wants the people he works with to understand what he has learned over decades of experience. Obviously, that is a tremendous amount of knowledge and it's going to take time to learn, but he has a way of distilling that experience down and teaching it to the rest of the team. I wanted to be somewhere I could continue learning while having more tools available to help patients.

What is your role in a Patient's Treatment Journey at Breakthrough?

Patients typically first see Dr. Mazzola or Dr. Taylor for their initial 90-minute evaluation. If they decide to move forward with a regenerative procedure, I'm usually their next step.

I'll see them for a pre-procedure appointment, and we spend about an hour together. We go through their questions, review supplements and talk about the post-procedure protocols. There is a lot of information involved in these treatments, especially for someone who has never had a regenerative procedure before.

I want them to understand what we're injecting, where we're injecting it, what we're asking them to do before and after the procedure and what they can realistically expect from the recovery process.

Then I typically see them again for their first post-procedure follow-up. I'll do another physical examination, look at how they're progressing and determine whether there's anything else we need to add to their treatment plan before their longer-term follow-up with Dr. Mazzola or Dr. Taylor.

So, in one way or another, I interact with most of our patients. I'm there to help bridge that space between the initial diagnosis and treatment plan, the procedure itself and the recovery process.

What are you looking for at that first follow-up after a regenerative procedure?

At that first six - eight week post procedural visit we're definitely not expecting the patient to be 100%. That's really important for patients to understand.

I'm looking more objectively at their progress. During the initial evaluation, we may have identified weakness in a particular muscle or problems with certain movements. At the first follow-up, I want to see where their strength, motion and function is at and whether we're moving in the right direction.

It can take three to four months for those tissues to organize and strengthen with the physical therapy and rehabilitation the patient is doing. So at this first post-procedural visit, we're determining if the patient is on-track and whether or not we need to make any adjustments along the way.

Questions I consider are: Do we need to add focused or radial shockwave therapy to help with a particular situation? Is the patient's current physical therapy appropriate for where they’re at, or would a different type of therapist (osteopath, myofascial release, strength coach) now be a better fit? Do we need to adjust supplements? Is the patient still stuck in an inflammatory state that we need to address?

It's really a progress check that helps us keep the recovery moving in the right direction rather than simply waiting three or four months to see what happens.

Patient education seems to be a significant part of your role. What should patients expect?

It's a big part of what I do because people come to us with very different levels of familiarity with regenerative medicine.

Some patients have already done a tremendous amount of research. Other patients are hearing terms like PRP or stem cells for the first time. I want to meet them wherever they are on their journey and make sure they have enough information to feel comfortable, confident and educated with the treatment plan.

After the initial evaluation, patients typically receive information specific to the procedure they're considering, whether that's PRP, stem cells or prolotherapy. We provide frequently asked questions, information about supplements and details about what they can expect before and after treatment.

That gives patients a chance to digest the information and formulate their questions even before they see me.

For someone who wants to understand the research, we often have clinical studies supporting many of the things we're recommending, and I'm happy to share those. Other patients don't necessarily want to read the research—they just want someone to sit down and talk them through it.

A lot of my job is taking a large amount of information and helping the individual patient understand the pieces that matter most to them.

How personalized does that education become for each patient?

Very personalized. The general information can answer questions like what PRP is or what the typical recovery timeline looks like. But once I'm sitting down with a patient, their questions are usually much more specific to their particular situation.

For example, they may have a trip coming up and want to know whether they'll be able to do a particular activity while on vacation. They may want to know exactly what they can and can't do after their procedure. Their recommended supplements and post-procedure protocols are typically specific to them.

That's where having that dedicated pre-procedure appointment becomes valuable. We're not just handing someone information and expecting them to figure everything out. We have time to talk through what this treatment and recovery are actually going to look like in their life.

What do you enjoy doing outside of Breakthrough?

Spending time outdoors is a big reason I'm in Colorado. I love skiing, hiking, camping and backpacking.

That's also one of the reasons I can relate to so many of our patients. When an injury prevents you from doing the things you love, it affects more than just one body part. It changes what you can do, how you live your life and how you feel about it.

I know that personally because I've actually been a Breakthrough patient myself.

What was your experience being treated at Breakthrough?

About seven months before this interview, I couldn't hike or run. I had SI joint instability that was creating downstream problems in my leg and hip.

My treatment wasn't about looking at one painful area and treating it in isolation. I worked with a manual therapist who helped with the proper positioning of my hip joint, and Dr. Taylor treated my SI joint and the surrounding soft tissues. Together, that helped everything become more stable and start functioning properly again.

I had developed compensatory patterns because of the instability. I wasn't running correctly, I was swinging my leg differently, and those patterns were contributing to the problems I was having. Once we addressed those issues, I could start rebuilding my strength and moving normally again.

By the summer, I was back to backpacking, hiking and running. It was a life-changing treatment if I’m being honest!

Has being a patient changed how you work with Breakthrough patients?

Definitely. I think going through the process yourself helps you understand what patients are experiencing and makes it easier to explain it to them.

For a lot of patients, regenerative orthopedics is completely new. They're trying to understand the procedure, what recovery is going to feel like, what they should be doing and whether what they're experiencing along the way is normal.

I've been on that side of it. I know what it's like to want to get back to the activities you enjoy, go through treatment and then gradually rebuild your strength and function.

That experience gives me a much better perspective when I'm sitting down with a patient and helping them understand what their own recovery may look like.

What is Shockwave treatment, and how do you use Radial and Focused Shockwave to treat patients? 

One of the treatments I provide is shockwave therapy, and we have both radial and focused shockwave available. They work a little differently, so which one I use depends on what we're treating and what we're trying to accomplish.

Radial shockwave distributes the acoustic energy as pressure waves over a broader area and doesn't penetrate quite as deeply. I use it a lot for things like tight muscles, fascia, trigger points and adhesions. It can feel somewhat like a massage gun, but is much stronger and is especially useful when we want to work through a larger area of tissue.

Focused shockwave concentrates electromagnetic energy at a specific point more powerfully and can reach deeper tissues. If we know there's a particular tendon, ligament or other injured structure we're targeting, I can use focused shockwave to get much more specific with a more powerful regenerative effect. What's interesting is that the patient's feedback actually helps me locate the injured tissue because they're more likely to feel the focused shockwave when I'm over an area that's injured.

Frequently I'll use both types of shockwave during the same treatment. For example, if someone has Achilles tendinitis, I will use Radial shockwave through the calf to address tightness in the muscle and fascia and then use Focused shockwave directly over the injured Achilles tendon. We're treating the injured tissue, but we're also looking at what's happening around it and what may be continuing to put stress on that area.

Shockwave can also be incorporated into a larger regenerative treatment plan. I may use it as a stand-alone treatment for certain conditions or as an additional tool during recovery when we want to help stimulate healing in an area that's progressing more slowly.

 

Patients are at the center of the Breakthrough Team

Regenerative orthopedic treatment doesn't end when a procedure is finished. Hannah works alongside Dr. Timothy Mazzola and Dr. Timothy Taylor to help patients understand their treatment, prepare for their procedure and evaluate their progress as they recover. If an injury or chronic orthopedic problem is keeping you from the activities you enjoy, schedule an evaluation with Breakthrough Regenerative Orthopedics to learn what's causing the problem and what treatment options may help you move forward.