Orthopedics

Orthopedic eponyms: Where are the women?

Physician
January 31, 2022

Bunnell. Colles. Dupuytren. Erb. These and countless other names litter the lexicon of orthopedic surgery. Eponyms abound from the moment one enters residency, providing prime “pimp” fodder for senior surgeons to accost trainees.

Besides striking fear into the hearts of residents in morning conferences, eponyms do serve another purpose. They preserve our history.

Contributions of giants in the field are immortalized, perpetuated every time one glimpses a characteristic X-ray or particular pathognomonic …

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Expertise is the backbone of successful spine treatment

Conditions
January 15, 2022

People who experience debilitating back pain come to their doctors with one pressing question: Do I need back surgery? Often, they are surprised to hear me, a neurosurgeon, answer, “No.” In many cases, physical therapy, pain management, weight loss management, and physiatry can help people to delay – and in some cases avoid – back surgery.

However, if those remedies don’t work well enough, a person might decide that spine surgery …

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7 causes of low back pain

Conditions
January 1, 2022

The New Year is a typical time for resolutions, and one of the most common ones is to get healthier. For many of us, a common stumbling block is dealing with low back pain. As a rehabilitation medicine physician, my focus is nonoperative spine care within one of the top orthopedic practices in the country. Let’s talk about the causes of low-back pain and what we can do about it.

1. …

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An open letter to radiologists from a jilted orthopedic surgeon

Physician
November 20, 2021

This article is satire.

As an orthopedic surgeon, it has always been clear that our specialties benefit from a somewhat symbiotic relationship. We feed you patients, and you often return the favor by providing us with the needed confirmation to operate. However, I feel as though there is a deepening rift between our two specialties. It has been developing gradually, almost imperceptibly, over time. Perhaps it is perpetuated by the belief …

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3 ways your rehabilitation doctor advocates for you

Conditions
October 4, 2021

If you’ve ever been in a serious accident or traumatic event leaving you with one or multiple injuries, you’ve probably met the rehab doctors a few times. Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R, also called physiatry) is a branch of medicine geared towards helping people heal and adapt to new circumstances after their diagnosis using medications and rehab.

Here, I want to share three ways a physiatrist can be your advocate after …

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How a physician learned to stop reacting to overnight calls

Physician
August 23, 2021

I’m currently reading What Happened to You by Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, and being reminded that I react rather than respond when I am in a trauma activation. When that happens, I don’t have access to higher cortical functions like critical thinking. And as Gabor Mate, MD, would say, I don’t respond to what’s happening; I respond to my perceptions of what’s happening. And actually, I …

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A physician’s personal story with opioids

Physician
April 28, 2021

I once spoke at a leadership forum on opioid abuse. I was asked to speak about the role of hospital systems in addressing this important issue. As I thought about what I would say, I realized there was very little I could add. The crisis is epidemic, and hospitals are ill-prepared to do anything proactive. It is that overwhelming. Leading medical missions, I learned an important lesson that …

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Meet the orthopedic surgeon who stopped taking insurance and does house calls [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 13, 2021
YouTube video

“I can tell you what I don’t want to do. I don’t want to mill through 50 patients a day, mindlessly clicking through EMR checkboxes so an insurance auditor five states away will deem that I’ve done my job and deserve reimbursement. That’s a high volume, high overhead game, and I …

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COVID tragically took a young orthopedic surgeon

Physician
February 17, 2021

Before getting dressed for work this morning, I stood in my kitchen, marveling at the ice crystals, or “tree diamonds,” as my mother calls them, from the window above the sink. As I waited for the coffee to brew, I scrolled through the text messages sent to my phone overnight until I saw my friend’s forwarded news link: “Doctors suspect COVID delayed immune response in young surgeon’s death.” I clicked …

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You have options when it comes to board certification

Physician
November 9, 2020

It’s good to have options, isn’t it?

So why isn’t there an option when it comes to taking your boards? In other words, can’t residents have a say with which board to become certified with once they’re done with their residency?

Well, there’s good news for you. The answer is yes. You definitely have options. There are other boards for your initial written exams. (And that also includes the oral exams for …

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Orthopedic surgery enters the modern age on a chance observation

Conditions
November 8, 2020

For thousands of years, bonesetters and doctors could not accurately diagnosis broken bones or differentiate such injuries from joint dislocations and torn ligaments. That changed with a chance discovery almost exactly 125 years ago. Subsequently, perhaps with equal parts of chagrin and enlightenment, doctors began using the new discovery to discount their previous assumptions and accurately diagnose skeletal diseases.

In his darkened laboratory on November 8, 1895, …

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Fascia in primary care: When chest pain is not in your chest

Conditions
August 11, 2020

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
– Albert Einstein

“Mr. Thomas, are you OK? Sir, are you OK?”  It was a full clinic day, and I had just improvised a treatment on him.

I had met this patient, “Mr. Thomas,” only once before.  After meeting me …

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Pearls and pitfalls for medical students entering their clinical years

Education
July 9, 2020

Transitioning from the classroom to the wards is an uncertain and anxiety-provoking time for many medical students. Schedules are constantly changing, as are expectations and learning objectives. Mentorship and advice from upperclassmen, residents, and attendings was an essential tool in my MS3 toolbox. I would go so far as to say that these pieces of insight are the toolbox. The 2020-2021 academic year will provide its own degree of obstacles …

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6 tips for success in residency training

Physician
July 8, 2020

Recently, a few colleagues and I sat down with our six incoming interns during a welcoming round-table discussion.  Being the closest member of the faculty to these residents in age and time from residency, I was best able to relate to them and their current feelings.

I, too, sat in those chairs in a conference room that was last used for graduating our outgoing chief residents.  I, too, remember the feelings …

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Nurses deserve all the respect doctors and patients can muster

Physician
May 30, 2020

Every year, National Nurses Day is celebrated on May 6 to raise awareness of the role nurses play in society. The date also marks the beginning of National Nurses Week, which begins on May 6 and ends on May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. In addition to the annual celebration, the World Health Organization has smartly declared 2020 the “International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife,” in recognition of their …

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Kudos to the new breed of physicians

Physician
May 11, 2020

I became interested in medicine in my second year of college at Baylor University. I lived in the old Brooks Hall, which was built with large suites and communal bathrooms, and formerly used as military housing. Six of my suite-mates were pre-med and had doctors for either fathers or mothers. They all spoke of the work their respective parents did, and how much enjoyment treating patients brought them, and that …

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Why intangible skills are so important for surgeons

Physician
January 7, 2020

As a fourth-year orthopaedic surgery resident, we had some surgical autonomy.  Always at arm’s length from the attending oversight, this was just enough to push us past our comfort zones.

My problem was I loved my comfort zone.

The single most influential day in my career happened late one evening as a PGY-4.  I was about to start a complex ankle fracture by myself.  The ankle fracture involved the fibula and the …

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An orthopedic surgeon goes to a bar. Here’s what happened next.

Physician
December 19, 2019

I went to a bar last night — and I looked good: red coat, black dress, knee-high suede boots.  I was feeling pretty good.

I met my best friend at this bar — he lives elsewhere now — but this is his favorite spot in the world.  Like Norm in Cheers, he is also their favorite customer.

We ordered dinner, and my best friend stepped away to talk to the bartender.  I …

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A brilliant song about the perils of texting and driving

Video
November 25, 2019

“Words Kill” is a brilliant song about the perils of texting and driving. Spread the message.

Courtesy of The Fever Breakers, a band made up of hospital employees. Their socially conscious songs are crafted in the basement of the hospital using a piano used for cancer patient music therapy and subsequently recorded in a studio.

The physician who became a chronic pain patient in seconds

Physician
August 2, 2019

It took me decades of studying, training, hard work, and sleepless nights to become a doctor. In approximately five years, I became a successful writer, editor, columnist, and a whole array of other titles assigned to that type of work. In under 3 seconds, I became a chronic pain patient for the rest of my life.

Around this time last year, I was taking my two dogs outdoors when they spotted …

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CME Spotlights