Joanna’s Story: How a Repeating Injury Led to Life-Changing Surgeries
Most elite athletes know that pain, injuries, and repairs come with the territory. But for Joanna “PNut” Dzierzawski, a professional snowboarder, it took multiple times injuring her shoulder before accepting she needed a serious repair.
PNut first injured her shoulder snowboarding in 2013. She said it felt like a muscle injury and didn’t seem that serious. She had subsequent injuries, but her focus was on the 2014 Olympic Games.
A promising athlete with Polish roots, the South Lake Tahoe resident hoped to represent Poland at the Olympics in the inaugural slopestyle competition. Unfortunately, one month prior in January, while prepping at the World Cup, PNut reinjured her shoulder. Consequently, she couldn’t compete at her full potential and missed her chance of making the Olympic team by one spot.
A Change in Direction
This disappointment shifted PNut’s athletic goals and her perspective. She continued to shred on the mountain for fun and started riding motorcycles and snowmobiles. While the competitions stopped, the injuries didn’t. PNut repeatedly dislocated her shoulder doing activities she loved.
For nine years, PNut focused on healing her shoulder with strength training and physical therapy. This regimen allowed her to return to the same activities without pain.
But then her regimen slowed down with the pandemic, epic winters, and personal obligations.
In March 2023, five months after dislocating her shoulder in a dirt bike incident, PNut dislocated her shoulder while snowmobiling. Her multiday trip was thwarted, and she was evacuated 10 miles in a snowstorm.
Long-Awaited Repair
PNut finally recognized her shoulder needed a bigger repair. She reached out to Dr. Kyle Swanson, an orthopedic surgeon at Barton Health. Dr. Swanson had seen PNut a handful of times. Back in 2014, after her initial shoulder injury at the World Cup, he advised she’d eventually need surgery.
Dr. Swanson found bone damage in her shoulder and a labral tear, an injury in the shoulder socket. He recommended the Latarjet shoulder reconstruction, a surgery to restore and stabilize the shoulder joint.
After surgery, PNut says she had minimum discomfort. She was medication-free within a week, and it wasn’t long before she returned to her favorite activities. Though her surgery and recovery occurred in April, PNut found some late snow and was back on her snowboard in August.
It’s been more than a year since PNut’s shoulder surgery. In that time, her shoulder has been stable, but in the spring of 2024 she sustained an ACL injury to her knee. She returned to Dr. Swanson for his help and expertise, knowing she was in the right surgical hands. Remarkably, after two major surgeries within 16 months, she is back on the mountain pursuing her favorite activities.
Kyle Swanson, MD, FAAOS, is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with Tahoe Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, specializing in sports medicine. For more information, visit BartonHealth.org or call 530.543.5554.
