As a freshman at Illinois State University, Nancy Norkiewicz, now 65, was the first women there to be granted a full-ride athletic scholarship. As a gymnast from a young age, she was able to experience the benefits of Title IX which paved the way for equal opportunities for female athletes.

As a student-athlete on the women’s gymnastics team, Norkiewicz also worked part-time at a local recreation department teaching aerobics where she enjoyed being a part of the booming ‘fitness craze.’  She also took advantage of the school’s circus program and learned to perform on a trapeze. However, all the training and teaching fitness began to take a toll on her young body. She experienced fairly serious thigh injuries from repetitive hits on the uneven bars, so she stopped competing in that event, but continued in others.

After her gymnastics career ended post-college, she took up marathon running and teaching additional fitness classes, sometimes as many as six per day. When marathon training became too much, she switched to triathlons which felt more like cross-training to this seasoned athlete. She enjoyed a long career as a physical education teacher and shared her love of sports and movement with young people.

Hip pain got in the way

Norkiewicz has relied on her physical health for most of her life. Having a fully functional body that allows her to keep moving is critical to her. “Being an athlete is pretty much all I’ve ever known,” Norkiewicz explains. “Movement is magic to me, and it literally affects my brain so much.”

So, last year when hip pain began to slow her down, she decided to wait it out for a time. Norkiewicz had retired from teaching but was still teaching regular fitness classes. Due to the pain and reduced mobility, she moderated her movements but eventually, her limp was hard to disguise. She reached a point where it was too uncomfortable to walk her three dogs, so she knew it was time to address it.

As a former patient of Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush (MOR) after a fall on her shoulder, she knew that was the practice to find the best joint replacement physician. She researched doctors at the MOR Joliet clinic which was closest to her home. It was online that she discovered Dr. Omar Behery, a knee and hip replacement specialist, and she liked what she read about him right away.

The right surgeon and right solution

“Dr. Behery spent a lot of time with me in our initial visit,” she says. “He listened to me and understood how important it was for me to return to full function, so we discussed anterior approach hip replacement and consideration of dual-mobility hip replacement bearings as an option for me. As a yoga enthusiast now, having full range of motion in my hip is key.”

A dual mobility hip prosthesis is a newer hip replacement that prosthesis that has a larger polyethylene head and a smaller metal or ceramic head, which improves stability and reduces the risk of dislocation. 

“Yoga involves positions in which the hip range of motion can be extreme,” Dr. Behery explains. “With traditional single bearing hip replacement, there is a possibility of dislocation with certain activities involving a wider range of motion. This risk is potentially lower with anterior approach hip replacement and a dual mobility bearing implant, depending on the patient’s anatomy. For Nancy we felt that a combination of anterior approach hip replacement and the use of a dual mobility bearing were best suited to allow her full range of motion with the lowest risk of complications.”

Norkiewicz, who has a friend who benefitted from a highly successful dual mobility hip implant recently, felt comfortable undergoing the procedure after learning more from Dr. Behery. Her outpatient surgery at the Joliet Outpatient Center was a success and she was delighted to return home the same day.

Back to 100%

Today, seven months post-surgery, Norkiewicz says she is back to ‘100 percent.’ “There isn’t one thing I cannot do that I want to, and I have the best quality of life,” she explains. “I still teach fitness classes, and it never feels like work.”

Happily, she is also back to yoga and doing poses with ease.

“Being under the care of Dr. Behery and his team was an experience unlike any I’ve ever had,” she says. “It was just at a different level. I’m very happy.”