Interesting Read: An Interview with Dr. James Andrews

[JB_Iowa]

Joseph Stromberg has a really interesting interview with orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews on the Vox Conversations website:

 

http://www.vox.com/2014/6/13/5803496/an-interview-with-dr-james-andrews-the-man-whos-operated-on-all-your#interview

 

 

Just a great read but some of the things I found most interesting were his comments about dealing with the press (seems like we've all discussed that before) and his opinion on why there has been such a rash of TJ surgeries (and how to prevent the need).

 

What makes treating athletes so difficult?

 

...

 

With professionals, it gets even more complicated, because you've still got the patient and the mother — I don't care how old they are — but also the agents, the team doctor, the trainer, the physical therapist, the coach, management. And the most difficult, nowadays, is the press. The press has no idea about HIPAA laws — about violating confidentiality. And if you don't handle it properly, they'll just say whatever they want to say. So it just gets more complicated as you go up the ladder.

 

 

 

You recently wrote a position statement on the rash of Tommy Johns' injuries in baseball right now. What do you think is causing it?

 

I think the biggest thing is overuse, especially during childhood. If you look at the major league pitchers that I'm seeing, if you study their history, you'll find that they had injuries during their youth. They may have forgotten about it — I had one in here last week, we could tell from the X-ray, and he said, "Oh, I remember now, when I was 12 I missed a month of baseball with a sore elbow." About 50 percent have some pre-existing minor injury from overuse that was ignored.

 

There is much more in the interview -- well worth a few minutes of your time.