Well - Fall 2011 - (Page 11)

well-prepared to meet the mounting needs and expectations own blood platelets into injured tendons and ligaments to for orthopaedic care. speed healing), and ultrasound-guided injections (enabling “We feel we distinguish ourselves through our commitprecise delivery of biologic and therapeutic agents). ment to comprehensive treatment, community involvement, accessibility to care, and ongoing research and education,” Innovation Through Research says Douglas R. Dirschl, MD, professor of orthopaedics and To help achieve continued innovation in chair of the UNC Department of Orthopaedics. “For orthopaedic care, UNC Health Care’s sports more than 50 years, our department has earned medicine physicians seek to integrate advancethe distinction of providing outstanding orthoments in clinical research and basic science paedic care to every UNC athlete. The same within their current clinical practice and quality of care, skills and training available treatment approaches. to these elite athletes are at work in all our “The latest trend in orthopaedic Four shoulder patient interactions.” research is exploring how biological replacements performed Although UNC Health Care attracts agents, derived from natural tissues and each week by orthopaedic patients from across the councells, can be inserted into damaged joints R. Alexander Creighton, try, “we place strong emphasis on serving to improve healing,” says Jeffrey T. Spang, MD, at UNC Health the needs of our local communities, such MD, assistant professor of orthopaedics and Care as the area’s high schools,” Dr. Dirschl says. the third member of the sports medicine “We’re constantly in touch with the schools’ group with Drs. Dirschl and Kamath. “We’re trainers, we offer free physicals to the players, already using platelet therapy in clinical pracand our physicians are routinely on watch at local tice. Stem cell therapy is an experimental area football games.” that holds great potential. We’re partnering in basic science research with NC State’s biomedNext-Day (Even Same-Day!) ical engineers to examine how stem cells and Service biological structures, called scaffolds, could be hip and knee To ensure rapid accessibility to care for new used to improve meniscus and articular cartireplacements are patients, Dr. Dirschl says the department lage healing.” performed aims to provide next-day and often same-day Dr. Spang and his colleagues are also parappointments with sports medicine specialists. ticipating in clinical research projects, includeach year “While we’re extremely proud to treat ing examining the kinematics (motion dynamics) UNC varsity athletes, we’re just as gratified of young athletes to identify the specific factors to treat weekend warriors and help people accelerating shoulder injuries and ligament tears, and of all ages and activity levels recover from to assess how to prevent and mitigate these injucommon injuries and cope with common ries; investigating and pinpointing the musculoskeletal conditions,” emphasizes factors behind failed anterior cruciate Dr. Creighton. ligament (ACL) reconstruction and By 2030, One of the core strengths of the sports medrepeated ACL injuries; and evaluthat number icine team, says Ganesh M.V. Kamath, MD, assistant ating whether better preoperacould be professor of orthopaedics and one of Dr. Creighton’s tive and postoperative care could sports medicine team members, is the ability to “conimprove long-term results for duct virtually any type of surgical and nonsurgical rotator cuff surgery patients. treatment of the shoulder and knee, and do virtually “Our participation in research all of them with varying techniques. This enables us to is an important part of our overall customize treatment for each patient.” commitment to orthopaedic care,” Most patients treated have some type of knee or shoulsays Dr. Creighton. “It’s constantly motider injury or deterioration, most commonly osteoarthritis vating us to discover new ways of improving (wearing of cartilage), sprained or torn ligaments, strained or our patients’ quality of life.” torn rotator cuff tendon (of shoulder), and damaged articular knee cartilage (end-of-bone cartilage) and meniscus (the knee’s “shock absorber”). One Website for All Your Treatment and surgical options include knee and shoulOrthopaedic Questions der arthroscopy (minimally invasive surgery using small For more information about joint replacement and incisions), knee and shoulder hemiarthroplasty (partial other orthopaedic services at UNC Health joint replacement), knee and shoulder arthroplasty (total Care, visit www.med.unc.edu/ortho. joint replacement), knee ligament reconstruction, rotator cuff repair, meniscal allografting (meniscus transplantation), platelet-rich plasma therapy (injection of patient’s 700,000+ Photo: heather Lauffer for tamara Lackey PhotograPhy 4 MILLION www.unchealthcare.org 11 http://www.med.unc.edu/ortho http://www.unchealthcare.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Well - Fall 2011

Well - Fall 2011
Contents
UNC Health Care News
Community
An Urgent Solution
It’s Not Too Late to Get Your Flu Shot
Back in the Race
Nutrition
Calendar

Well - Fall 2011