Growing up in Mt. Lebanon and starring in both football and lacrosse, James R. Mullen, MD, learned a thing or two about playing through pain. He experienced two broken thumbs, one broken collarbone, a pair of torn hamstrings, severe high ankle sprain, and a shoulder dislocation requiring surgery.
“The path I chose really chose me because musculoskeletal injuries are things that everyone can understand—you literally feel it in your bones. What’s always impacted me is how those injuries affect the rest of your life, because your spouse, your children, your coworkers, they’re just like your teammates and you don’t want to let them down,” he says.
Before joining St. Clair Medical Group Orthopedic Surgery in 2022, Mullen worked with Dr. William C. Hagberg at a Wexford-based orthopedic private practice. In similar fashion to Mullen, Hagberg embraced the grind that is often all too easy to simply associate with everyday life. However, he started coming to terms with the quality of the rest of his life upon retirement.
“I had arthritis in my shoulder for seven to ten years. It was bothersome, but it was something I could work through until it progressively it got worse,” Hagberg says. “The pain wasn’t keeping me up at night, but there were many points throughout any given day where I was sort of bracing for impact.”
What Dr. Margie C. Hagberg saw was her husband struggling through and even actively avoiding the very things he had long looked forward to in retirement.
“Getting down on the ground to play blocks with the grandkids meant that I had to think about how I was going to push off to get up. And I had completely stopped playing golf,” Hagberg shares. “I wanted to take Margie to get lessons so we could play together and that just wasn’t possible.”
The time had come to take action — and the choice of surgeon was clear.
“I’m a surgeon, so I knew the potential procedures, the literature associated with their outcomes, and the indications of my condition,” Hagberg says. “The biggest thing in making the decision was being able to put my complete trust in another surgeon. I knew from the moment I made up my mind that Jimmy was that guy.”
With advanced imaging and 3D computer-navigated technology, Dr. Mullen was able to model the joint replacement procedure prior to performing it. Another benefit of shoulder replacement surgery at St. Clair Health: Hagberg returned to the comfort of his own home the very same day his procedure took place.
“I had no pain at all—and I slept well the very first night,” Hagberg says. “I couldn’t be more amazed at how quick and pain-free the recovery process has been—I was out there chipping around the golf course after just 12 weeks and was able to raise my arm higher than it has gone in 10 years, at just 6 weeks from surgery.”
Thanks to Dr. Mullen, Hagberg says retirement is everything he thought it could be. He and his wife are back to being Bill and Margie again.
According to Dr. Mullen, “Fundamentally, I’m not only taking care of the patient, but also their friends and family, as musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction affects everyone the patient regularly spends time with.”
Click here [1] or call 412.942.7262 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Mullen. For most conditions, same day appointments are available at Dunlap Family Outpatient Center in Mt. Lebanon.