MDNews - Long Island

Convenient, Accessible Services T WO CLINICS EXEMPLIF Y St. Charles Sports Medicine's commit- ment to provide timely access to the clinical expertise and advanced equipment athletes need to perform their best. On most weekdays, St. Charles Spor ts Medicine hosts a no-appointment-necessar y, walk-in clinic with spor ts medicine physicians from 4 to 6 p.m. at the East Setauket office. The clinic offers athletes swift access to spor ts medicine physicians after school and practice, when obtaining a regular appointment can be difficult. "The no-appointment, walk-in clinic option provides athletes access to fellowship-trained spor ts medicine specialists when there's concern of an injur y," says Michael Sileo, MD, FA AOS, Co-director of Spor ts Medicine at St. Charles Hospital. "The sooner athletes see a special- ist, receive a diagnosis, complete appropriate tests and have a treatment plan, the quicker they can get back on the field or cour t." Recovery is often overlooked in regard to sports perfor- mance, but St. Charles Sports Medicine raises athletes' awareness of its importance and helps them prepare for the next game, practice or workout with its Sports Recovery Clinic. The clinic is free for high school and college athletes and takes place at least twice weekly at select St. Charles Rehabilitation locations. Athletes can work with a sports therapist on stretch- ing and other forms of rehabilitation. If a therapist identifies an injury, he or she can refer the athlete to a sports medicine specialist for evaluation the same day or within 24 hours. "Athletes are only as good as their ability to recover," says Hayley Queller, MD, PC, Medical Co-director of the ThinkSMART!™ Concussion Management Program and Co-director of the Sports Medicine Program at St. Charles Hospital. "At the Sports Recovery Clinic, they can use a cold tub and NormaTec Pulse Recovery System compression devices, among other equipment, to get ready to practice or play again." transplant — removing old cartilage and replacing it with that of a cadaver. "For large defects, we may perform an osteoarticular transfer procedure, in which we transfer cartilage from elsewhere in the joint to the a rea in need of hea lthy ca r t i la ge," Dr. Si leo say s . " Pat ient s a re able t o a dva nce wei g ht-bea r i n g relatively quick ly a f ter surger y, a nd the clinica l results are quite promising. The goa l of surger y is to delay the need for a knee replacement or help patients avoid it a ltogether." Shoulder instability — typically, either subluxation or dislocation — is a nother common problem ath letes encounter. S t . C h a r l e s Spor ts Medicine offers outpatient a r t h r o s c o p i c o r m i n i m a l l y i nv a sive r epa i r of both common t y p e s of s hou l- der i n s t a bi l it y, w it h out s t a n d- ing results. HELPING PATIENTS OVERCOME ACL INJURY Tea rs of the a nterior cruciate liga ment (ACL) in the knee can be devastating for young athletes. Physicians at St. Charles Spor ts Medicine help them work their way back to the spor ts they love with a comprehensive injur y ma na gement prog ra m t hat i ncludes a r t h roscopic s u r g i c a l r e c o n s t r u c t i o n , p h y s i c a l therapy a nd functiona l testing, which minimizes the risk of re-injur y a f ter return to play. To reconstr uct the ACL , a surgeon ty pica lly uses a n autogra f t, such as the patient 's ha mstring or patella r tendon, or a n a llog ra f t. Physica l therapy helps the g ra f t hea l a nd streng then. " T he s c ienc e of AC L r e h a bi l it a- tion ha s evolved qu ite a bit over t he past 10 or 15 yea rs," Dr. Sileo says. "A s ou r t e ch n ique s a nd u nder s t a nd i n g of ACL hea ling have improved, we've expedited return to spor ts." A key pa r t of the rehabilitation pro- cess for ACL recover y is f u nct iona l testing, which ta kes place with a sports t herapist fou r, si x a nd n i ne mont h s following ACL reconstruction. During each test , therapists a ssess ath letes' streng th, ba la nce a nd performa nce, as well as their psychologica l readiness to resume full activit y. "G enera l ly, I li ke patient s to have full streng th and range of motion in the affected knee, a quadriceps muscle that is fully symmetric with the nonaffected knee, a nd passing grades on functiona l testing before I clea r t hem to return to spor ts a f ter ACL reconstr uction," D r. S i l e o s a y s . " T h o s e f a c t or s a r e customizable, depending on patients' activity levels and the sports they play." F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t S t . C h a rl e s S p o r t s Me d i c i n e , v i s i t stcharleshospital.chsli.org/sportsmed. n In Augu st 2019, O rthopedic Associates of Long Island will be an independent physician practice in partnership with St. Charles Sports Medicine Program . Dr. Sileo (right) and Gregg Jarit, MD, orthopedic surgeon, confer on a case prior to surgery. 1 0❱❱❱❱❱ C O V E R F E A T U R E

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