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Paul M. Tomaszewski, MD, MS
Dr. Paul Tomaszewski is a board-certified and fellowship-trained sports medicine and orthopedic surgeon at Orthopaedic & Neurosurgery Specialists (ONS).
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The Injury
As a serious student of jiu-jitsu and taekwondo, Derrelle was used to pushing his body to the limits. But one evening in May of 2025, he faced a new kind of test. Derrelle’s training partner put his left arm in a position to throw him, and the eccentric force of the ensuing move was so great that it ruptured Derrelle’s triceps, tearing it out of the elbow joint. Derrelle was able to push through the nausea that the rupture induced to complete his training for the day. It wasn’t until he went home and saw his swollen arm in the mirror that he began to understand the severity of his injury.
The Solution
Derrelle continued to train in the hope that the swelling would recede, but there was no improvement. He decided to visit an urgent care facility. After obtaining x-rays, the urgent care team referred him to Orthopaedic & Neurosurgery Specialists (ONS) in Wilton. Dr. Paul Tomaszewski, sports medicine and knee, shoulder, and elbow surgeon at ONS, saw Derrelle that same day and diagnosed his rupture, later confirmed by MRI. He recommended scheduling surgery immediately to repair the damage.
“Once I showed the imaging of my injury to my coaches, they actually thought I would quit martial arts,” Derrelle recalled.
Instead, he tackled one more challenge–earning his next belt in jiu jitsu, a test for which he’d trained three months—and then prepared for surgery.
In early June, Dr. Tomaszewski performed the operation to repair Derrelle’s ruptured triceps, using four surgical anchors instead of the typical two, to ensure the repair could withstand his return to martial arts after surgery.
The Results
The surgery was a success. While Derrelle rehabilitated his left arm, he also kept up exercises for his lower body and right arm to stay in shape.
Derrelle’s taekwondo grandmaster eventually permitted him to begin non-contact training with lower body movements only. By August, he was allowed to practice slow hand movements. His progress was so rapid that in October, Derrelle was cleared to compete in the East Coast Taekwondo Championships. And his performance there was not just a feel-good story—by the end of the Championships, he had won two bronze medals.
“Almost all my medals are in storage boxes,” Derrelle explained. “But those bronze medals are on display in my house, because they are a commemoration and reflection of overcoming.”
In the Surgeon’s Words
“Caring for patients means understanding who they are and what is truly important to them,” Dr. Tomaszewski said. “Helping an athlete who is as determined as Derrelle not just to return, but to thrive in a highly competitive environment, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
From the Patient’s Perspective
Throughout his recovery, Derrelle has felt deep gratitude for Dr. Tomaszewski and the carefully tailored surgical approach that helped him return to jiu jitsu and taekwondo.
“There’s no way I could have come back and competed 18 weeks post-surgery without Dr. Tomaszewski taking that into account,” Derrelle said of his goal to get back to martial arts. “I have nothing but tremendous things to say about the experience. He’s left an indelible mark on my life.”
Thanks to that impact, Derrelle is back to living his life to the fullest. “For me, martial arts is like breathing,” he said. “I feel like I can breathe again.”
