St. Louis Game Time interviewed HSS sports medicine surgeon Riley J. Williams III, MD, in an article about St. Louis Blues' Carl Gunnarsson's recent ACL injury.

Dr. Williams, who did not treat Gunnarsson, explained that ACL injuries are not common in hockey players. "In hockey, the foot is never fixed, it's always on that slippery ice, so it tends to protect the players," he noted.

The reporter asked, when it comes to the Hospital for Special Surgery, how far have you and the other physicians and doctors come in the past 15-20 years when it comes to sports medicine. What kind of innovations and advantages have been gained along the way in treating players?

Dr. Williams said "first, from the technical side, a lot of the instrumentation we are using today is a lot better than what we were using in let's say, 1998. This allows us to more accurately place grafts in surgery.... Second, from the rehab side, when I started in 1992, we were casting ACL (injuries) for six weeks, meaning they all got atrophy and became stiff. Now, we do quite frankly the polar opposite."

Read the full article at stlouisgametime.com