The Sports Docs Podcast
Sports medicine is a constantly evolving field, with hundreds of new articles published each month on the topic. This ever-growing wealth of information can make it challenging to stay updated on the newest approaches and techniques, and to know which data should actually change your practice. Join orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Catherine Logan and Dr. Ashley Bassett, as they chat about the most recent developments in sports medicine and dissect through all the noise.
On each episode of The Sports Docs podcast, the hosts will tackle a specific injury – from ACL tears to shoulder instability – and review the top research from various high-impact journals that month, including The American Journal of Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, Sports Health, Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, and more. The Sports Docs will also be joined by experts in the field of sports medicine – orthopedic surgeons, nonoperative sports medicine specialists, athletes, physical therapists, athletic trainers and others – to provide a fresh and well-rounded perspective based on their unique experiences.
The Sports Docs – Dr. Logan & Dr. Bassett – are friends & former co-residents from the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program, who went onto esteemed sports medicine fellowships at The Steadman Clinic and The Rothman Institute, respectively. Dr. Logan practices in Denver, CO, and serves as Team Physician for Men's USA Lacrosse & as a Team Physician for U.S. Ski & Snowboard. Dr. Bassett is the director of the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at the Orthopedic Institute of New Jersey and practices across northern NJ, primarily in Morris and Sussex Counties.
Together, they will bring monthly conversations on how to care for athletes of all ages and levels of play, with a healthy mix of cutting-edge science and real-world application.
The Sports Docs Podcast
17. Dr. Anand Murthi: Management of Rotator Cuff Tears - Part I
On today’s episode we’re focusing on rotator cuff tears with Dr. Anand Murthi, Chief of Shoulder and Elbow surgery at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital and Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Georgetown University.
We have some great articles for you today that contribute well to our conversation on the surgical treatment of rotator cuff injury. The first article is retrospective cohort study published this past month in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery titled “Early Repair of Traumatic Rotator Cuff Tears Improves Functional Outcomes”. Matt Ramsey and his team at Rothman reported that patients who underwent surgical repair of traumatic cuff tears within 3 weeks of injury had the best functional outcomes, as measured by ASES, SANE and VAS scores, compared to those who underwent surgery later. Furthermore, delaying surgical repair beyond 4 months was associated with a significant decline in function across all scores. The authors concluded that early MRI diagnosis and prompt orthopedic referral is imperative when a traumatic cuff injury is suspected, to avoid a delay in surgical treatment that may negatively affect clinical outcomes.
Then, from the October issue of AJSM this year, we review the publication titled “A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Single-Row With Double-Row Fixation in Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair”. Lapner and colleagues in Winnipeg and Ottawa Canada concluded that double-row fixation was associated with statistically superior WORC scores compared to single-row fixation at 10-years post-op, but that this is unlikely to be clinically significant. More importantly, double-row repair led to preserved function out to 10 years while single-row repair exhibited significant functional declines during this time period as measured by changes in the WORC and ASES scores.
We are joined today by Dr. Anand Murthi, Chief of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery and Director of the Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital. Dr. Murthi received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and completed his orthopedic residency at George Washington University. He then completed a fellowship in shoulder and elbow reconstruction at Columbia Presbyterian.
Dr. Murthi is the former president and founding member of the Association of Clinical Elbow and Shoulder Surgeons. He is also an elected member of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Society and was recently elected to the Neer Circle of ASES. Dr. Murthi is passionate about research and has published and presented numerous research papers on a national and international stage. He is the current section editor for the journal “Current Orthopaedic Practice” and also sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery and the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Arthroplasty.