Blogs & News

World-Class Sports Medicine care at OrthoCarolina

Rotator cuff issues are a common culprit of shoulder pain. Four muscles make up the rotator cuff and keep the head of the upper arm bone in its socket, enabling it to work. Those muscles turn into tendons that attach near the head, which is the ball of your shoulder, a ball-and-socket joint.

Chronic pain can keep your body hurting for weeks, months, or even years at a time, impacting your day-to-day life and even your work and time with family. It can be a result of an injury, other health issue, or there may be no apparent reason for the pain. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is one of the newest ways to treat pain. PRP uses a highly concentrated solution of your body’s own platelets to accelerate the natural healing of damaged tissue.

Sciatica, also known as lumbar radiculopathy, is a term that describes pain that radiates down the leg caused by a pinched nerve in the back.

We don’t always think about our spine, but good spinal health is important. Back pain can come from many different sources: discs, joints, fractures, or even just the effects of everyday life.

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a vital stabilizing structure within the knee. The ACL helps to control rotation and translation with a knee that is abruptly changing direction or speed. As a result, it is commonly injured in athletes who participate in sports with cutting, pivoting, jumping, and quick running.

If you could increase your soccer skill level efficiency, drastically reduce your chance of injury, and help your body feel better before and after soccer, would you want to know how?

Soccer is not only one of the fastest growing sports, but it’s also one of the most fast-paced. Like any contact sport there is always potential for injury, but during the juvenile and teenage years those chances are higher simply due to growth patterns and growing bodies.

Exercise and running has always played a big part in Kathleen White’s life. So when Kathleen, a physical therapist, became pregnant, she was even more motivated to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle for herself, as well as her baby.

Rotator cuff tendon tears affect more than four million people annually in the U.S. and are the most common source of shoulder pain and disability. Dr. Patrick Connor of the OrthoCarolina Sports Medicine Center, team physician to the Carolina Panthers, is pioneering the use of a breakthrough technology designed as a new option for millions of people suffering from rotator cuff tendon tears in the shoulder joint.

Research report by Dr. Bryan Springer of the OrthoCarolina Hip and Knee Center looks at how the two diseases are similar in terms of biology, mortality, financial impact.

It can be difficult to end a career in any sport for those who are hard-wired to do what they love, but the post-football career can be tough physically as well as mentally.

Swimming is a great lifetime activity. Whether you're a recreational, masters level, triathlete or competitive swimmer, doing some dry land cross training should be an integral part of your regular weekly workout routine. It can be hard to leave the pool for one day and opt for a dry land workout, but there are many benefits that will leave you a better swimmer and with a more well-rounded level of fitness.

For centuries, people with physically demanding occupations have been known to be prone to developing large, swollen knees and elbows, especially after a serious bump or bruise. Originally dubbed “miner’s elbow” and “handmaid’s knee”, these conditions are now known to be varieties of bursitis, the inflammation of a bursa, a fluid-filled sac that limits friction between the skin and a joint such as the knee or elbow.

Dr. Glenn Gaston and Dr. Bryan Loeffler were recently honored by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) for their research on advancements in upper extremity amputee care at the 2017 AAOS Meeting in San Diego, CA.

Jennifer DeRosa knows all too well about soccer injuries. Jennifer started playing soccer at four years old and battled through injuries from a young age through college, playing Division 1 Soccer at UNC Asheville. Injuries included knee and neck strains, and she even needed anterior compartment surgery to bilateral lower legs.

X-rays are standard when it comes to photographic images of the human body, but many people are less familiar with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

Is it ever too early to start talking about football? No way!

Quality improvement is a big deal to us at OrthoCarolina. In fact, we have a team that works only on care improvement programs and maintaining quality and coordinated care.

Tiffany Johnson remembers every second of the shark attack that took most of her right arm.

Targeted muscle re-innervation (TMR) is a surgical procedure which involves transferring amputated nerves to activate the remaining muscles in the limb. This has been shown to be an effective way to cure or prevent neuroma pain (sometimes called "phantom" pain). The surgery also allows enhanced control of myoelectric (sometimes called "bionic") prostheses to perform new functions since there are more muscle signals available in the residual limb. For upper extremity amputees, this can mean far greater control of the elbow, wrist, and hand when using a myoelectric prosthesis.

Just because you're stuck at a desk doesn't mean you can't fit exercise into your day.