Winning three-straight state field hockey titles is no easy feat.

For Emily, the journey to and through all three titles was especially daunting, with enough ups and downs, largely thanks to shoulder instability with a torn labrum, that she wondered whether she’d even make it back.

But thanks to her unwavering drive and the care she received at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) from Joseph L. Yellin, MD, Emily was with her team every step of the way, contributing in ways large and small until finally earning her own starring role.

Shoulder injury

It was a ball she had to dive for, Emily’s arm fully extended to reach it before it crossed the goal line.

But between her body positioning and the way she landed, Emily knew right away something was wrong with her shoulder ... though that didn’t keep her down.

“I didn't really think of it,” Emily, who was 14 at the time, said. “I just popped it back in myself.”

A high-level goalie committed to joining Rider University when she graduates, Emily not only continued that tournament; she also practiced the week after.

She would ultimately dislocate her shoulder twice more across two different practices before deciding to seek treatment.

“It got to the point where whenever she reached her arm, it would fall out,” Emily’s mom Joscelyn said, describing the instability of her daughter’s right shoulder.

After calling the pediatrician, the New Jersey-based family was on their way to Philadelphia to meet with the experts at CHOP’s Orthopedic Center.

Medical anxiety, CHOP diagnosis and prognosis

After a thorough physical exam, Emily underwent a shoulder MRI with arthrogram. Arthrograms are unique not just because they focus on the joints, but because they require dye to be injected into the affected area first.

Considering her diagnosed medical anxiety and already injured shoulder, it’s easy to understand how hard this moment must have been for Emily.

“Then Dr. Yellin came in,” Joscelyn said. “He was amazing. Talked her right off the ledge.”

Still, it wasn’t easy for Emily to accept that her left labrum was torn or that she “wouldn’t be able to do the thing I love for a while, and it was going to take a lot of time and effort to get back.”

Dr. Yellin and Sarah Grealy, his physician assistant, spent more than an hour explaining the injury – a torn labrum, the ring of cartilage surrounding her shoulder socket – and treatment options, taking time to answer questions and reassure Emily that this didn't mean the end of her field hockey career.

The injury to her labrum meant it could no longer do its job stabilizing the shoulder joint and keeping it from dislocating.

While surgery was the solution, Dr. Yellin made sure Emily knew that she would “come back better,” Joscelyn recalled.

Shoulder labrum surgery

Prior to the procedure – repairing her right labrum and inspecting a Hill-Sachs fracture that ultimately healed on its own – Emily and Dr. Yellin set a goal.

For Emily to “be back playing by the time next season started,” Joscelyn said.

Injured in late December, the procedure to repair Emily’s shoulder was completed at CHOP by Dr. Yellin in February.

Like winning three straight state titles, it would be no small feat to return by August; but that didn’t mean Emily couldn’t do it.

“I tried to go in with a good mindset,” Emily said. “And I was just like, ‘Okay, I'm going to do this. It's going to be okay. I'm going to get through the recovery.’”

The family arrived early on the day of the procedure because Emily took part in a clinical trial at CHOP. 

This gave her a chance to chat with the anesthesiologist, whose wife just so happened to be a field hockey goalie as well.

Recovery after shoulder surgery and getting back on the field

Programs as good as Rider’s eye potential talent from the moment an athlete steps on the field freshman year.

“She was so concerned that by the time she came back sophomore year, that would all be not a thing anymore,” Joscelyn said.

Of course, Emily needed to make her way back to the field first.

That started with 6 weeks of immobility, spent mostly in a recliner with her arm wrapped in a brace anchored across her stomach.

Emily couldn’t even brush her own hair, let alone take a shower.

“I'm such an active person, I don't like sitting in the house for so long and doing nothing,” Emily said, adding that she was nervous about falling behind in school as well.

“Definitely a lot of mixed emotions knowing that I'm injured and it's going to take time and then I'm stressed out, bringing my mindset really low.”

Looking back, Emily considers this the most grueling phase of the recovery process.

“I doubted myself all the time,” Emily said. “It was bad. But my coaches were there for me. My teammates were there.”

And that goal she set with Dr. Yellin was there too.

And after 6 arduous weeks of sitting, Emily attacked rehab with everything she had.

Another 6 weeks later, there she was, a sophomore taking the field with her teammates for the start of the season, just like she and Dr. Yellin had hoped.

Playing future, pre-med and mentorship

It was about a month prior to injuring her shoulder that Emily’s high school team won the first of their three-straight state titles.

And while she was only a freshman with little on-field role that season, the experience was electric, in a way making her injury shortly after even more deflating.

“I got hurt doing one of my favorite skills and I was so nervous to do that skill again; diving and going on the ground, moving my body how I used to,” Emily said.

“It was really, really hard to get my confidence back up.”

Now 16, Emily is not only healthy and confident but fresh off celebrating that third-straight title too, one in which she played a key role after taking over for an injured senior.

Her very first varsity game, Emily would remain in the cage all the way through the team’s third consecutive state title victory.

Those three titles – plus a potential fourth at the end of her senior year – led Emily to her first-choice collegiate team. 

In a way, injuring her labrum led Emily to a pre-med track unique to Rider.

“And she bugged Dr. Yellin enough that during her freshman year of college, he's going to do the paperwork so she can shadow him,” Joscelyn said.

Of course, Dr. Yellin was in no way “bugged”; in fact, he was more than happy to help get Emily excited about orthopedics. A former athlete, Dr. Yellin knew he wanted to be a surgeon from a young age.

Emily believes she does too.

These days, Emily is busy as ever with school and field hockey. She’s even started to mentor younger goalies, offering guidance on skills and technique, something she considers generally lacking in most programs.

“That's her thing,” Joscelyn said. “She wants to help. And she keeps all of us busy.”