John Salvatore

I actually have two stories, both of which affected my life tremendously.

In April of 2006, I had bilateral hip replacement surgery performed by Dr. Douglas Padgett. In my longtime profession as a performer (actor, singer, dancer), I gradually wore away at the cartilage in both of my hips to the point where it was excruciatingly painful and impossible for me to continue my craft, both as a performer and as a yoga practitioner/instructor. Prior to the surgery, I had some very successful cortisone injections, administered by Dr. Kevin Math, which kept me going for a couple of years until they just didn’t work anymore.

At the time when I got my surgery, I was actually performing on the road in the Broadway touring company of “Hairspray” and I took a 2 month leave of absence from the show in order to get the procedure. I thought that if I had the surgery while the show was still running, it would give me a goal and inspire me to recover quickly with something to look forward to. Like most performers, especially dancers, whose bodies are their instruments, I was very nervous that I wouldn’t be able to do everything that I was able to do before.

Dr. Padgett assured me that I would in fact, be as good as new, if not better. And boy, was he right. After having both hips replaced, I was in the hospital for a week, then to inpatient rehab for a week. On the third week, I was walking up and down subway stairs. And in just 8 weeks post-surgery, I was back on stage performing in the show, with NO PAIN at all. I had not realized how much devastating pain that I was enduring until I was actually out of pain. I had a new lease on life and felt so grateful to have been fortunate enough to get this procedure done by such a top-notch surgeon like Dr. Padgett. As a postscript to this story, within a year after the show closed and I was back in New York, I was again performing in a show in Westchester called “Dames At Sea”, in which I acted, sang and tap danced throughout the show. Well, one night, Dr. Padgett showed up to see me in the show with his family. To explain in words how incredibly emotional that experience was for me would not do justice. I was up there on stage thinking, “If it weren’t for Dr. Padgett and HSS, I wouldn’t be able to do this right now." I was so proud to have Dr. Padgett see me tap dance with my new shiny hips. It just meant the world to me and I was overwhelmed that he came to see me perform.

My second story is one that occurred more recently. In mid-August 2022, I was riding my bike to go teach a yoga class and a man in a parked car opened his door in front of me. I was thrown from my bicycle pretty violently. I looked down and saw my collarbone almost protruding through my skin. After the EMS took me to the nearest hospital and it was discovered that not only had my collarbone snapped and overlapped, but I also broke 3 ribs and had contusions in my hips from the blunt force of the fall. Because the x-rays showed the rib damage, I had to be transferred to a trauma facility, which, lucky for me, was HSS at NYP. It was there where I had the fortune of meeting Dr. Behrens, who immediately put my mind at rest and made me feel in vey safe hands.

He performed a procedure in which he reattached my collarbone with a metal plate and 10 screws. I was in the hospital for a few days, obviously, but once again I felt so taken care of and nurtured. I was more than pleasantly surprised at my speedy recovery. In such a short period of time, maybe in just two weeks, I was back teaching yoga and pretty soon after that, had full range of motion in my arms and shoulders and was back to my normal routine. Everyone around me was astounded at how quickly I had bounced back. I owe that all to Dr. Behrens. His work was immaculate and dare I say perfect. Once again, I have no more pain and am will be forever grateful that Dr Behrens was on the staff that day.