MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sean Biser was 40 going on 80. Sidelined by pain from chronic joint injuries that his own rehabilitation couldn’t fix, the former West Virginia University athlete turned to the experts at WVU Medicine to help him get back in the game.
Biser’s first knee injury occurred during what he called a “freak” football play. During an arena league football game, Biser’s teammate blocking behind him fell on the back of his right leg.
“The people around me said they heard a snap,” he said. “It was some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”
He tore his right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the major ligament in the center of the knee connecting the thigh and shin bones. His recovery after surgery was especially grueling, and he never regained a full range of motion in his knee.
About 20 years later, Biser tore his right ACL again while walking off the field after coaching football practice. This time, rather than endure another painful surgery and recovery, he opted to rehabilitate his knee on his own.
Five days after the injury, Biser went to the weight room and started doing weighted squats. He continued pushing himself, even playing in four full-contact alumni football games.
However, as he worked to fix his knee, he began overcompensating on the left side of his body. This aggravated his congenital hip condition called pistol grip syndrome, a structural deformity of the top of the thigh bones that caused them to pinch against the hip socket. The condition caused him pain that worsened over time, gradually limiting his movement.
When he moved from Keyser to Morgantown in 2020 to become the head football coach at Morgantown High School, Biser said he had a difficult time walking due to his hip pain.
“I could barely get in and out of a car,” he added.
Biser finally decided to reach out to the orthopaedics team at WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, where he was told he needed a total hip replacement and a total knee replacement.
The stigma that total joint replacement is only for older adults often keeps younger patients from seeking treatment. However, Benjamin Frye, M.D., chief of adult reconstruction at WVU Medicine Orthopaedics, explained that his focus is on a patient’s mobility and quality of life, not an arbitrary age.
“I look at it as, ‘Is the patient a good candidate for surgery?,’” Frye said. “‘Is their arthritis bad enough? Have they failed enough conservative treatments to be a good candidate for surgery? Do I think that a joint replacement is going to help them?’ And if the answer to all those questions ends up being ‘yes,’ then I offer them a joint replacement.”
He continued, “Most patients are in so much pain, they’re willing to take on the risk of a revision, rather than picking an arbitrary age and making them wait another 20 years where they’re going to miss out on good quality of life.”
Later that year, Biser underwent same-day total hip replacement surgery at WVU Medicine. A few years later, he had same-day total knee replacement surgery.
Today, Biser has no limitations and keeps his joints flexible by weight training, kickboxing and jiu-jitsu, in addition to his full-time coaching and teaching duties. He said his competitive nature keeps him constantly working to improve his strength.
“Ultimately, we all become doctors and surgeons to help people, and when they tell me all the different examples of how the surgery made them better, that’s the best reward,” Frye said.
Biser’s hard work paid off on the field too, when he led his football team to the West Virginia State Championship last fall.
But what made that victory even sweeter is that he no longer feels like an 80-year-old.
“They changed my life, honestly. I was debilitated, but I’m not a debilitated person. I went from not being able to walk down steps to where I can run down steps – like, just slide right down like nobody’s business,” Biser said.
“I want to do what I do – I coach, and I’m on the field all the time. I’m 55, but I think I’m 25 in my brain.”
For more information about WVU Medicine Orthopaedics, visit WVUMedicine.org/Ortho.
