“Basketball, football, hockey, those are the ones that tend to be associated with significant injury, and then some of the more extreme sports, like motocross or certain motocross sports, like BMX biking, mountain biking … (and) finally, some of the unique sports, like equestrian activities, can be associated with injuries as well,” Sama said.

“The weekend warriors tend not to be as vigilant about doing the stretching and strengthening that goes into being an athlete who plays some of these high-paced sports,” Sama said. “So we see things like tendinitis of the knee, or jumper’s knee or injuries to the ankle, like Achilles tendonitis.”

“Activity should be a necessary part of everyone’s life,” Sama said. “The type of activity … should be based upon the patient’s medical history, meaning if someone has issues with their hearts, lungs or issues with their joints, they should probably consult a medical doctor first to see what’s safest for them to do.”

Read the full article at usatoday.com.

"An invisible patch of ice is an accident waiting to happen," said Dr. Dvorzhinskiy. "People often forget how dangerous a fall can be, especially when they’re in a hurry to get somewhere."

Hidden ice can linger in shaded areas, near curbs and between parked cars long after most snow has melted, Dr. Dvorzhinskiy pointed out.

These slicker spots can lead to serious injuries, especially for older adults.

To lower your risk, he recommends slowing down and wearing shoes or boots with good traction like ones with rubber or neoprene soles.

Smooth leather or plastic soles, and high heels, should be avoided.

If you must walk on icy ground, take short steps or shuffle to stay steady. Always look where you’re going and stick to cleared walkways. Avoid shortcuts over large piles of snow, and use handrails on stairs whenever you can.

Read the full article at healthday.com.

Read the full article at thebftonline.com. 

Brian Joseph Page, MD, orthopedic trauma and limb reconstruction surgeon at HSS, provides insight on the recovery process, and what Holmgren might face as he works toward returning to the court.

“There are many factors associated with the injury that can influence his recovery timeline. If the injury does not extend into his acetabulum or disrupt his pelvic ring his recovery will be much more reliable and quicker. He will likely be unable to return to the court for at least 3-6 months, but the injury and recovery is variable. Returning too soon increases the risk for refracture,” explained Dr. Page. 

“His potential return later in the season will depend on the nature of the injury, however it is difficult to assess without reviewing his imaging studies. The timeline for recovery is highly contingent on the specifics of the injury,” said Dr. Page. 

Read the full article at okcthunderwire.usatoday.com. 

"Injury prevention is certainly an a vital part of being an athlete regardless of what level you're participating at. In order to minimize injury, the athlete should understand the importance of having a well-rounded approach. That includes everything from stretching to the appropriate nutrition, giving yourself the appropriate amount of time to rest or recover. Another important part is the utilization of protective gear or equipment. Here in Florida in particular, we have to be cognizant of staying well hydrated as well,” explained Dr. Sama.  

This episode aired live on June 11, 2024. Listen to the podcast at podcasts.apple.com.

Andrew Grose, MD, MSc, orthopedic trauma surgeon at HSS noted that the methods and conclusions seemed sound but cautioned that the study only looked for radiographic evidence of OA, and not symptomatic OA. 

"Clinically relevant OA is correlated with what you see on an x-ray, but the x-ray is definitely not the whole story," said Dr. Grose.

To be clinically relevant, patients must also have symptoms, such as pain and stiffness, and interfere with daily life. But what shows up on an x-ray is not necessarily indicative of what patients are experiencing, he said. Solely focusing on radiographic findings could lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of OA, Dr. Grose explained.

Read the full article at medscape.com. 

1. HSS named Tara McCoy as CEO of its Florida division. She was previously division chief executive of GenesisCare. As CEO of HSS Florida, she will focus on expanding orthopedic care in the state.

2. Bryan Kelly, MD, succeeded Louis Shapiro as president and CEO of HSS. Dr. Kelly is a recognized leader in the field of hip preservation. He launched the hip preservation service at HSS in 2010, which is now the largest in the nation. In 2019, Dr. Kelly was named surgeon-in-chief and medical director.

3. Douglas Padgett, MD, was named  HSS's surgeon-in-chief and medical director following Dr. Kelly's promotion to CEO. Dr. Padgett is chief emeritus of adult reconstruction and replacement services, and he works as a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. He was named HSS' associate surgeon-in-chief in 2019.

4. Spine surgeon Frank Cammisa, Jr., MD, and Brooklyn Nets and NY Liberty owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai were honored by HSS in June. Dr. Cammisa was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the spine surgery industry.

5. HSS received a $10 million grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to support expansion of its main campus and construction of the HSS Kellen Tower.

6. HSS named Mary Cassai, RN, executive vice president and COO.

7. David Helfet, MD, orthopedic trauma surgeon at HSS, was named executive medical director of HSS at NCH in Naples, Fla.

8. HSS named Answorth Allen, MD, and Mathias Bostrom, MD, as associate surgeons-in-chief.

9. HSS appointed David Mayman, MD, and Daniel Green, MD, to its leadership team. Dr. Mayman will serve as chief of the adult reconstruction and joint replacement service, and Dr. Green will serve as chief of the pediatric orthopedic surgery service.

10. HSS opened a location in Southampton, N.Y. The location is the first office in Suffolk County and the second outpatient location on Long Island.

11. Researchers at HSS and Weill Cornell Medicine discovered a new stem cell that could affect spine care. The findings, published in Nature, uncovered vetebral stem cells that are uniquely present in the spine. It was previously believed that all bones formed through ossification, but the collaborative research team found that certain vertebral skeletel stem cells have a key role in the development of spinal vertebrae.

12. HSS at NCH in Naples, Fla. named Justin Blohm as vice president of the musculoskeletal service line. 

13. Healthgrades included HSS on its best hospital lists for orthopedics, spine surgery and joint replacement.

14. OrthoVentions invested in Gemini, a company created in partnership with HSS. Gemini is focused on developing MRI imaging and volumetric analysis products to create interactive views of joints. The investment will fund product development and an initial commercial launch.

15. HSS and Naples, Fla.-based NCH Healthcare have started construction on an 80,000-square-foot orthopedic care facility on the NCH North Naples Hospital campus.

16. HSS received support from Schmidt Futures to advance artificial intelligence and machine learning efforts.

Read the full article here: beckersspine.com. 

The car Orlov was traveling in last October rolled over in flames after suspected Russian gun fire. Pinned in the back seat, Orlov said he was initially unable to get out of the vehicle – his feet had been crushed by the car and his legs had been wounded by the explosion. Once he finally did, he and his team laid in the nearby grass watching the flames to figuring out their next steps.

Orlov was taken to a Ukrainian hospital and told he may need to have at least one leg amputated or that he may never walk again. 

Ashley Matkowsky, Orlov’s American girlfriend and a videographer who had been working in Ukraine, recorded what he looked like after the attack.

That video caught the attention of U.S. volunteers and made its way to Gary Wasserson, a retired American businessman from New York who was already coordinating volunteer aid resources to the region. Wasserson asked HSS  if they’d be able to save Orlov’s legs and, optimistic they could, he was admitted.

Dr. Fufa, who is now helping care for Orlov, described his injuries as extraordinarily complex.

“The complexity comes from the fact that he had both soft tissue wounds as well as bone defects or missing bone from the blast injuries and the multiple fractures in each of the feet,” she said.

Since he arrived in the U.S. in January, Orlov has already undergone “two very lengthy procedures to begin the major step for reconstruction of both his right and his left foot” with care that has involved multiple specialists, Dr. Fufa explained. While Dr. Fufa is optimistic about the path forward for Orlov’s feet, she is quick to point out that reconstruction is one thing, however being able to walk again is not guaranteed just yet.

“I’ve warned him that this is such a long road that I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point we hit roadblocks where it feels like this is taking too long or that this is too challenging to continue to face,” said Dr. Fufa. 

Read the full article at CNN.com. This story also aired during the 7pm news hour on February 17, 2023. 

Additional coverage: cbsnews.com and pix11.com. 

“I have witnessed an increase not only in the last 2 years, but over the last 10 years, and the data supports that there are an increased number of people using e-scooters,” said Dr. Ricci. “The increased usage is probably the most influential reason for the rise in injuries. There are just more people on them and that has increased substantially over the last decade or so, and the last couple of years is just part of that curve.”

Read the full article at healio.com/news/orthopedics. 

Read the full article at Seattletimes.com.

The article spotlights Dr. Grose’s early years of dancing and acting on Broadway after graduating with a BFA in acting from Syracuse University. He landed parts in A Chorus Line and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. While he was performing, he realized he wanted to take new path and pursue medicine.

In between his shows, Dr. Grose said he began watching City College of New York classes on cable TV. “Tuesdays were science day and I found myself watching chemistry between shows. I thought, this is kind of weird,” he noted.

After returning to Syracuse to teach a workshop, he took a biology class and orthopedic elective that sealed his fate to becoming an orthopedic surgeon.

Dr. Grose cited medicine and music are not that different. “Doing a joint replacement,” he said, “is like playing something classical. There’s a step to everything. How perfectly can you play the notes that are already written for you?”

And when it comes to fixing fractures, Dr. Grose compared it to choreography and performance. “It lets you listen to the patient the same way you pay attention to the audience. The physical work is different, but the metaphysical, psychological, spiritual work is the same.”

Read the full article at Connecticutmag.com.

As part of his care, Stephenson underwent successful surgeries performed by William H. Ricci, MD, chief of Orthopedic Trauma at HSS, and is making his triumphant return to assist the team in the Quarterfinals this year.

Read the full article at Insidelacrosse.com.

“We developed the idea for this study after observing that papers accepted for presentation at the AAOS [American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons] annual meeting were highly variable with regard to level of evidence. For example, some small retrospective series were included alongside large, randomized trials. We wanted to understand more about this, and in particular we wanted to determine if this level of evidence discrepancy was related to orthopaedic subspecialty,” explained Dr. Campbell. “One of the reasons we were interested in this topic is because we wanted to determine if those of us submitting papers in subspecialty fields that were in the middle, or on the lower end of the list could learn anything from our colleagues who were engaging in studies with more rigorous methodologic quality. This led us to think on the potential reasons for these discrepancies,” he continued.

Two independent raters assessed all abstracts for podium and poster presentations from the 2017 annual AAOS meeting (clinical research only). Level of evidence (I to V) was assessed using the latest Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery guidelines. The final analysis included 1,083 abstracts, 710 of which were podium presentations while 373 were poster presentations. Country of origin was as follows: United States (70.3%), Japan (4.7%), and South Korea (4.4%). 

Dr. Campbell noted, “The most important results of the study were that methodologic quality and level of evidence did have a relationship with subspecialty category. We found that papers accepted in the shoulder and elbow, adult knee reconstruction, hand and wrist, and sports categories had the highest mean level of evidence. Trauma, spine, and hip reconstruction were somewhere in the middle. The foot and ankle, pediatrics, and orthopaedic oncology categories had the lowest mean level of evidence.”

Read the full article at Orthospinenews.com.

“There’s no way he’s making the Masters in April, zero chance,” said Dr. Ricci. “Masters next April? Maybe.” Dr. Ricci, who is well versed in the trauma sustained in high-speed car crashes, said Woods’ mangled ankle and foot could prove to be the hardest to overcome, depending on the severity of the injuries, which hasn’t been disclosed. “It’s going to impact his ability to pivot on that leg, to pivot normally and to flex the ankle and foot normally,” he cited, of the pins and screws Woods had installed.

Woods’ mature age as a professional athlete also doesn’t help in speeding up the recovery process. “He’s an incredible athlete, but as you get up into your 40s and beyond, the healing times slow down and it takes longer to recover from injuries,” noted Dr. Metzl. “This is going to take months. We can’t think about golf yet.”

Dr. Ricci estimated Woods will face a year of rehabilitation and physical therapy focused on restoring his mobility, range of motion and strengthening his calf, ankle and foot muscles — all key areas for a professional athlete. “I don’t know Tiger Woods personally but everything I see and read about him, he’s a pretty motivated person,” he said. “If anyone could [rebound,] it would be him but it’s going to be a battle.”

Read the full article at NYpost.com. This article also appeared in print on February 25, 2021.

Because of the “open” nature of Woods’s fractures, sometimes also called compound fractures, the risk of infection is significant and the likelihood of additional surgeries is high. “This is not a one-surgery [condition]. This is a multiple-surgery [condition],” explained Dr. Helfet. With an open fracture, he said, protocols call for multiple debridements — the removal of dead, damaged or infected tissue. Additionally, Woods “may need soft-tissue procedures, maybe a skin graft. He may need multiple, additional procedures to stabilize the bone perfectly, to restore the length, alignment and rotation of the leg,” noted Dr. Helfet.

“The risk of an injury like this is not necessarily lifesaving; it’s limb-saving. And the sooner you get the patient into … a trauma center, the better,” noted Dr. Helfet. “ … To get one of these injuries healed — the bone healed, the soft tissues recovered, [and] assuming there’s no nerve and artery damage and the muscle is recoverable, you’re talking about, until he can walk and put weight on his leg and actually have function, two to three months, at least."

“Golf,” added Dr. Helfet, “is immaterial.”

Read the full article at Washingtonpost.com. This article also appeared in print on February 25, 2021.

Additional coverage: Newsmax TV’s “Wake Up America” during the 7am news hour on February 25, 2021. Watch the segment online at Newsmaxtv.com (appearing from 01:18:18-01:26:35).

Dr. Sama explained maintaining a healthy level of strength and balance through a home-exercise program is important. For patients who have persistent unsteadiness, the use of assistive walking aids such as a cane or walker should be a part of their daily routine.

For more active people who participate in sporting activities (i.e., golf, tennis, baseball etc.), a warmup and cool-down program is critical in reducing injuries. If riding a bike or participating in impact sports, the use of protective gear, such as a helmet and padding for arms and legs is a necessity.

Dr. Sama advised in the event one suffers from a traumatic injury, it is important to recognize that the treatment of fractures is in and of itself a specialty field. He underscored the importance of seeking out an orthopedic surgeon with expertise in the treatment of traumatic injuries for the best recovery and results.

This article appeared in print on February 14, 2021.

Dr. Sama explains how patient outcomes after orthopedic procedures depends not only on the quality of the medical providers but also on how well the patient actively participates in his or her treatment.

According to Dr. Sama, the physician is the “captain” of the team and it is his or her responsibility to educate the patient - in layman’s terms - about the problem, care options, risks, benefits and prognosis.

He writes that educating patients to embrace autonomy over their road to recovery helps minimize deficiencies in the care system, leading to better outcomes.

This appeared in the print edition on December 27, 2020.

This segment aired on December 3, 2020 at 6pm

Dr. DiFelice credits Vollkommer’s quick recovery to the surgery in which he reattached her ACL vs. reconstructing it. However, he noted Vollkommer was a good candidate for the surgery based on the particulars of her injury and age. The surgery is not recommended for people under 30 years of age, particularly teenagers, said Dr. DiFelice. “It doesn’t work for everybody. You have to have a specific type of tear,” he said.

Andrew D. Pearle, MD, chief of the HSS Sports Medicine Institute added, "HSS pioneered the ACL repair technique over 40 years ago, and we are still exploring the most appropriate indications for its use. It may be appropriate for treating extremely rare types of knee injuries among older patients."

In 2018, Vollkommer won five gold medals at the International Association of Independent Gymnastics Clubs World Championships in Orlando, and she continues to train three days a week.

Read the full article at ABC7ny.com. This segment also appeared during the 4pm news hour on September 2, 2020.

Listen to the full episode at Conveymd.libsyn.com. 

Andrew Grose, MD, MSc, orthopedic trauma surgeon at HSS Stamford, explained the importance for anyone with joint, muscle or tendon injuries to seek medical treatment — even during these challenging times. “In my work at the hospital, I have treated a lot of people with hip fractures — and I know some people have stayed home for fear of going to the hospital, due to COVID-19. We know the outcomes are worse if they don’t get treated, they are putting themselves at risk,” said Dr. Grose. “We are blessed in our first world that we have the ability to treat people very well,” he cited, adding the HSS Urgent Ortho Care facility at Chelsea Piers Connecticut includes MRI and x-ray machines and has the resources to do any type of splinting and bracing.

Last month, Westport resident Carol Herman benefited from the HSS Urgent Ortho Care service. Herman sustained several injuries while falling at her home and Dr. Grose determined that she had suffered a broken shoulder and knee cap, neither of which required surgery. An HSS technician personally delivered a knee brace to Herman’s home and fitted her. She also received a shoulder brace. “I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Grose,” said Herman. “He was so kind, considerate and attentive. He even gave me his cellphone in case I needed to reach him. We are huge fans of HSS. They have a terrific team in place and the whole operation works like clockwork,” she noted.

Read the article at CTInsider.com. This article also appeared in print on May 12, 2020.

Both David W. Altchek, MD, sports medicine surgeon and founding medical director of HSS Florida, and Nicholas Sama, MD, orthopedic trauma surgeon and associate medical director of inpatient services at HSS Florida, are on the list.

This appeared in the April 2020 print issue.

Dr. Ricci discussed the latest techniques and science in fracture healing. “In orthopedic trauma, we treat all different types of fractures, and we customize the treatment method to the particular fracture type and the particular patient. One thing that's relatively new is customizing the treatment to a particular subtype of fracture. Every fracture that we treat involves, to some degree, a race between the fracture healing and our implants failing,” said Dr. Ricci.

To enhance the healing process, Dr. Ricci underscored the importance of proper nourishment, and explained his practice for pain management, and weight bearing. “Good nourishment is needed to heal a fracture. We're particularly interested in making sure that patients have normal vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with healing problems and nonunion,” noted Dr. Ricci. He cited, “There is some controversy about treating patients with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) after a fracture. Some data indicate that NSAIDs can slow down fracture healing, and other, conflicting data indicate that they may not. In my practice, in patients with fractures that are at high risk for nonunion, I like to avoid NSAIDs and use other methods for controlling pain. Inflammation is a necessary and important part of the healing process.” Dr. Ricci concluded, “For certain fractures, weight bearing is absolutely safe and can augment the fracture healing process; but for other fractures, weight bearing is detrimental. That's why it's so important that we customize the postoperative protocol per patient per fracture.”

Read the article at Medscape.com.

Read the full article at ESPN.com.

Dr. Brouillette discussed the collaboration, stating, “I first started coming to KATH about 10 years ago and participated in some research projects where we studied orthopedic trauma, as well as anesthesia care. And what we found was happening there was a huge number of cases where the arms and legs were being injured especially during road traffic crashes. Our [HSS] program which is called GRACE – GRACE stands for Global Regional Anesthesia Curriculum Engagement, started a little over a year ago now, and we met with good results so far.”

Watch this segment here beginning at 17:00. This segment aired on June 28, 2019.

Dr. Grose wrote a bone fracture and a break are the same, and there isn’t a type of fracture that is better or worse than any other, as long as the skin and soft tissues around the fracture are healthy.

Dr. Grose cited in treating every fracture, the primary goal is to restore as much function as possible once healing and rehabilitation is complete. He added that some fractures can be treated with simple rest, splinting or often casting, while others are better treated with surgery to realign the bone. Fractures that are operated on are fixed with either a plate and screws or a rod, all of which are designed to be left in place forever, or to be removed if they cause symptoms.

Read the full article at DailyVoice.com.