A Metaphor for
Recovery
Each year, Dr. Masson participates in
the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a 24-hour
endurance race that kicks off the IMSA
season, with his son, Kyle Masson, and a
team of other experienced drivers.
They entered the 2020 Rolex 24 as the
previous year’s 2nd place finishers, but
on Jan. 24, an otherwise flawless final
practice session ended with a teammate
destroying the car on the last lap. The
professionalism and grit that Performance
Tech Motorsports showed during the
car’s repair allowed the team to start the
race less than 24 hours later. By 8:30
that evening, they had completely rebuilt,
rewrapped and repainted it.
“Admittedly, it wasn’t the same car we
practiced in all weekend,” Dr. Masson
says. “You could feel it vibrating; you
could feel it injured.”
The team made it 23 hours and 19 minutes
on the track before the car’s left rear axel
broke. Though they received a “did not
finish” status, Dr. Masson considers it an
incredible and competitive event that
provided an experience that perfectly
mimics the Masson Spine Institute’s
philosophies.
“The attitude was still recover, persevere
and prepare for life,” he says. “It was an
incredible metaphor for a recovery from
injury. Your injury will always be there,
but we celebrate an attitude of extreme
recovery - still living your life, still pushing
and never giving up.”
numbness in his right arm and intermittent
pain that turned into constant
pain before he validated the need for
surgery.
“When I realized that I was starting
to say ‘no’ to things that I normally
would’ve done, that’s when I decided
to have surgery,” Dr. Masson says.
Dr. Mitchell Supler performed
his cervical arthroplasty procedure.
Their philosophies and shared values
as partners at Masson Spine
Institute were key factors in the surgery’s
success.
“Dr. Supler treated me like we
treat all of our patient athletes - with
preparation, fitness, an expert surgical
result and world-class technology
in Centinel Spine’s Prodisc C artificial
disc,” Dr. Masson says. “This gave me
the confidence to immediately chase
my dreams and my recovery goals.”
He was fully recovered within a
month following the surgery in May
2013 - back to playing golf and fullcourt
basketball, back to running
and back to life. That summer, when
Wendy Chioji asked him to join her
in climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with
Livestrong the following February, he
accepted the challenge. They reached
the summit on Feb. 20, 2014.
“That become my recovery goal,”
Dr. Masson says of the experience. “It
was probably, in so many ways, one of
the most incredible trips of my life.”
Getting in the Right Mindset
Dr. Masson’s extreme recovery
is due in part to one of MSI’s core
values: pre-habilitation. Through
adaptive fitness and improvement
in nutrition, choices, and rest and
recovery cycles, patients build habits
that provide structure. Their bodies
are then able to maintain that preparation
before, during and after the
therapeutic intervention.
“It’s basically preparing yourself
for future trauma,” Dr. Masson
says, noting that most individuals
don’t understand the value of prehabilitation
until they’re already
in crisis.
The purpose of this concept is
to strengthen the patient’s mind,
body and soul in a way that prepares
them for recovery.
“If you show up for the surgery
strong, your recovery will be quick;
if you show up for surgery in a deep,
dark hole, your recovery will be
long,” Dr. Masson says. “How you
prepare for surgery is as important
as if you should have it.”
At MSI, all surgery patients
are treated like patient athletes in
the sense that the more prepared
they are for the trauma of surgery,
the faster their recovery will be, the
stronger their recovery will be and
the less complications they’re going
to have to worry about. Whether it’s
for the practice’s most targeted procedure,
cervical artificial disc surgery,
or one of its other specialties,
patients trust MSI to coach them
toward recovery.
“This is your life,” Dr. Masson says.
“You have to take ownership of it.”
2706 Rew Circle | Orlando, FL 34761
407.649.8585 | MassonSI.com
Dr. Robert Masson is an internationally recognized neurosurgeon who
specializes in micro-reconstructive spine surgery and sports spine
surgery. He also serves as director of the Orlando Health Health
Central Hospital JCAHO accredited Spine Center of Excellence.
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