Artist Lanny Grant shares story of reverse shoulder replacement with Dr. Liotta

Lanny Grant has worn many hats over the years. The Silt native grew up on his father’s Peach Valley ranch in Western Colorado. It was there – ranching, camping and fishing alongside his family – that Lanny learned to love the long days, hard work and beautiful landscapes of the American West.

Those landscapes began to take a different role in his life as a young boy. At the age of 10, Lanny began to paint many of the remote and wild locations he’d seen on horseback or foot – mountains, alpine lakes and rivers – those which others might never have a chance to witness.

Mostly self-taught, Lanny has become a well-known and collected professional oil painter of great mountain landscapes. His works are featured in regional galleries and at local landmarks including Alpine Bank in Rifle and Glenwood Springs and Bank of Colorado in Glenwood Springs and Willits.

But he’s also a local hero, named one of the recipients of the 2023 Garfield County Humanitarian Awards for his nearly 30 years of volunteer work with Garfield County Search and Rescue. Lanny has also served on the Colorado Search and Rescue Advisory Board and as Safety Director for the Colorado Snowmobile Association. He’s also served as a Garfield County Deputy Coroner, which is how he first ended up in Dr. Tito Liotta’s office at ValleyOrtho.

In 2022 Lanny was called to the coroner’s office for an autopsy case when the loaded transport gurney he was moving collapsed. As Lanny attempted to stabilize the gurney his left distal bicep tendon ruptured, detaching below the elbow. “Due to the strain of lifting people during rescue and recovery work, including dozens of trips to Hanging Lake for carry outs and years of wear and tear, my orthopedic problems developed over a long period of time.”

After successful surgery by Dr. Liotta to repair the bicep tendon, two years later he returned to Dr. Liotta, for what he thought was osteoarthritis in his left shoulder. “It got to the point where my left shoulder was bone on bone, and I had persistent pain,” says Lanny. “At first Dr. Liotta thought we could do an anatomical shoulder replacement but because of my set of circumstances, I might only get four to five years of use with that approach so Dr. Liotta suggested a reverse shoulder replacement.” A reverse shoulder replacement surgery replaces the damaged ball and socket of the shoulder joint with artificial implants. The “ball” is attached to the shoulder blade and the “socket” is attached to the upper arm bone.

After a successful surgery and pain management with a nerve block, ice therapy and a short cycle of pain medication, a week later Lanny began physical therapy at Valley View’s Silt HealthCare Center with Jared Curt. “He was dialed in,” says Lanny. “I credit him with the early progress I made. I feel very confident in the gains that I’ve made in range of motion and strength.”

Lanny anticipates he will also need to address the osteoarthritis in his right shoulder with a matching reverse shoulder replacement at some point in the not too distant future.

“There’s no question for me for who I want to go to for the next one. They’ve done a good job of carefully planning and performing this complex surgery. I would go back to Dr. Liotta,” he says.

For Lanny, what it comes down to is being pain free and having full range of motion again. It also means this right-handed painter will have to take a break from the High Country plein air painting he loves so much.

“For me it always comes full circle back to art,” says Lanny, who also teaches art classes at Colorado Mountain College. “It’s my saving grace. I have always enjoyed being in the mountains and hope to share the beauty I have found there with others through my paintings.”