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Nilesh Shah, MD, is Medical Director of Sports Medicine at Summa Health's Orthopedic Institute. PHOTO BY SMITHBERGER PHOTOGRAPHY, NORTH CANTON, OH, COURTESY OF SUMMA HEALTH easy access a nd excellent ca re without becoming too big a nd impersona l." In keeping with this, the Or thopedic Institute currently has six convenient clinica l locations: A kron, Ba rber ton, Green, Hudson, Medina and Wadsworth. Sa me day a nd nex t day appointments a re ava ilable Monday through Friday. SPORTS MEDICINE T h e S p o r t s M e d i c i n e p r o g r a m a t Summa's Or thopedic Institute of fers nonsurgical management and treatment of musculoskeleta l problems ra ng ing from common stra ins a nd spra ins to dislocations a nd f ract ures. Patients include both athletes a nd non-athletes of a ll ages. " We t a ke c a r e of mor e t h a n ju s t a t h l e t e s ," s a y s D r. S h a h , M e d i c a l Di rect or, Spor t s Med ici ne. " We see a l l pat ient s who h ave su s t a i ned a n or thopedic injur y. Our goa l is to reduce pa in, improve mobilit y, a nd minimize the risk of further injur y without surgi- ca l inter vention." The physicia ns a re tra ined in cut- ting edge treatments, including platelet rich pla sma injections, prolotherapy i njec t ion s, compa r t ment s y nd rome testing, Im PACT concussion testing a nd inter pretation, muscu loskeleta l u ltra sound (MSK US), a nd MSK US - g uided injections. Accordi ng to Dr. Sha h, MSK US is just as good as MR I, a nd in some cases bet ter, for dia g nosing cer ta in condi- tions. MSKUS-g uided injections offer adva ntages, a s well. " They ca n elimi- nate the need for a more complicated procedure requi r i ng a hospita l v isit a nd the a ssociated increa sed costs to the patient a nd payor," he says. Recently, the Or thopedic Institute added advanced ultrasound technolog y, the Tenex Hea lth, to its slate of treat- ments. Tenex is used to treat tendonitis in the shoulder, knee, foot, hip and ankle. " T he Tene x t a r get s a nd remove s d e g e n e r a t e d t i s s u e w h i l e l e a v i n g hea lthy tissue intact," says Dr. Sha h. "It 's a n a lternative to open surger y." W h e n s u r g e r y i s r e q u i r e d , t h e Or thopedic Institute eases the referra l process — with a "direct link " between the Institute's nonsurg ica l a nd surg i- ca l prog ra ms. ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY Summa's Or thopedic Institute's sur- geons work closely w ith their Spor ts Me d ici ne c ol lea g ue s t o en s u r e t he continuum of ca re is not interr upted. They strive to ma ke sure each patient is cared for, not only in timely fashion, but a lso by the most appropriate specia list. " We have a n excellent tea m of ver y compassionate and dedicated surgeons," says Dr. Weiner. " We have been for tu- nate to recruit surgeons who have been tra ined on the newest a nd latest surgi- ca l approa ches ." T hese i nclude t he direct a nterior approach for tota l hip replacement, tota l knee replacement, a r throscopic foot a nd a n k le surger y, tota l shoulder replacement, tota l a nkle r e p l a c e m e n t , a n d c o m p l e x p e l v i c reconstruction. 0 7 M D N E W S .C O M /// M D N E W S C L E V E L A N D /A K R O N / C A N T O N ■ N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 016