Injuries happen to all athletes. The best ones use the injury to return to sports fitter, faster, and stronger than they were before they got hurt. Our job is to help them do that. Here is how we counsel our wounded athletic warriors.

For decades there have been unsuccessful efforts to repair the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after rupture. Why? Because the forces required to tear the complex weave of the ACL’s collagen fibers involve both tearing and pulling apart. Think of a climbing rope: When overstretched the rope fails within its sheath, not just at a single clean edge. Here is why the ruptured anterior cruciate ligament is most often replaced (reconstructed) rather than repaired.

We all love touch. So why are people in need of it the most often denied it? Old people and injured people often lie in their beds or live in rehabilitation environments: places where touch is rare.

We give in too often. Whether it is to an injury, disease, age, or to loneliness, the affliction overwhelms our potential. In such cases, the Latin expression Illigitimi non carborundum—“Don’t let the bastards get you down”—applies to all.

You make it happen. She makes it happen. Tom Brady makes it happen. So much of success in life, relationships, and health is about willing things to happen. So much of failure is avoidable if you do.

Low back pain connects with a special region in the brain and produces the fear that you will never be the same again. Here are some guidelines that may help you.

Bone fractures around the knee fall into two groups: Those that lead to arthritis and those that heal just fine. Here is a brief guide to which is which.

Top skier breaks her leg. Doctor fixes it, gives her narcotics, and sends her home. She’s told to come back in two weeks for a checkup and have the rod taken out in a year. Doctor moves on to the next patient. What is wrong with this picture?

Varying medical protocols because someone is extra-special can lead to problems.
If you are extra-special, I suggest you request plain vanilla care—and expect the best outcome to occur. Here is why.

Pot. Almost 50% of the patients in my practice recently used marijuana to reduce their post-op pain. I didn’t prescribe it; the word just seems to be out.

All athletes get injured. The best ones use the injury as an excuse to come back better than they were before they were hurt. Others may not be able to. This may, in part, be due to their inability to let go of the self-image they are attached to. Here are some tips for avoiding that trap.

Artificial knee replacement surgery used to mean the reduction of sports activities like golf, swimming, and cycling. Yet with severe arthritis affecting younger and younger people, we are currently pushing the envelope of sports participation with joint replacements and learning as we go.

What do you expect to get from your surgical care? No one really asks this question, yet the answer determines your satisfaction. Surprisingly, the answers you receive from your surgeon, your physical therapist, your fitness trainer, and your coach may differ.

Perseverate, verb: to repeat or prolong an action, thought, or utterance, long after the stimulus that prompted it has ceased. Perseveration is a repetitive focus on the same issue, a recycling through the mind of thoughts that won’t go away—memories that trap you in the pain or anger of some past event. How to break free? Here are some of the techniques we use after sports injuries get you down.

Frozen shoulder. How quickly can it be thawed?