A Medal in a Championship Race Just Four Weeks After Surgery

Think about Superman flying through the air, arms outstretched. Now think about getting in a crash while riding a bicycle and sailing out over your handlebars like Superman.

It’s not a good thing.

Jackson Sanders was in a pack of riders in the second lap of the USA Cycling national championship road race in West Virginia earlier this year when it happened to him.

“A rider crashed into me from behind and I completely lost my balance,” he says. “I just ‘Supermanned’ out over my handlebars, slid about 15 feet on the ground, and landed with everyone else on top of me.”

Jackson, 17, ended up with a serious fracture of his right wrist. It was a rare injury called a central depression die punch fracture, which can be difficult for doctors to assess and requires a specialized approach to repair.

On top of that, Jackson – a very serious competitive cyclist who has ambitions of riding in the Olympics one day – was determined to recover quickly and get back on his special carbon-fiber bike in time for his next championship race.

So he and his family turned to Paul Sibley, DO, Chief, Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Section of Hand Surgery at Lehigh Valley Orthopedic Institute, part of Jefferson Health.

“Jackson wanted the most minimally invasive option so he could get back to cycling quickly,” Dr. Sibley says. “I always pay close attention to my patients’ jobs or sport-specific requirements, and I tailor my treatment to meet those requirements.”

Dr. Sibley used specialized instruments to get into the fracture arthroscopically, placed traction across the wrist, aligned the fracture by raising the fragments with small instruments, then sank two screws into the bone to hold everything together.

“My first thought,” Jackson says, after learning he would need surgery, “was how soon can I get back on the bike?”

He was riding the next day, for a light workout. And within four weeks of the surgery, he was at the junior track national championship race, where he won a silver medal.

After that, he was in Belgium for a race and then headed to a big race in Bucks County, Pa.

“My wrist healed fast because I wanted it to heal fast,” Jackson says with characteristic directness. His mom, Diane Sanders, believes it was a combination of “a teenager’s determination” and the expert care Jackson received at Lehigh Valley Orthopedic Institute.

“We really appreciated how carefully Dr. Sibley listened, and that he acknowledged how serious Jack is about his cycling career,” Diane says. 

“It was also great to hear how confident Dr. Sibley was that Jack would recover and heal completely,” she says. “And that’s exactly what happened.”