Dougherty Orthopedics & Sports Medicine

Innovative surgeries offered by Dr. Chris Dougherty

2014-01-28T13:59:00.001-06:00

Innovative surgeries offered by Dr. Chris Dougherty:

ACL Reconstruction on Children

Not many surgeons offer ACL reconstruction on very young kids, but Dr. Dougherty does. It’s an all epiphyseal ACL reconstruction and he is one of very few doctors to offer this treatment option in Arkansas. He also just returned lecturing on ligament reconstruction with internal bracing and cartilage grafting and is now performing anterior lateral ligament reconstructions.

Twenty years ago, very few children or adolescents presented at doctors’ offices with ACL injuries. Today, these injuries are common because children and young adolescents are participating in sports earlier in life and at a higher level of competition. Young athletes are also increasingly specializing in one sport, putting them at risk for overuse injuries once only seen in professional athletes. In addition, since the Title IX ban on sex discrimination in school sports, the number of female athletes has increased and females are more prone to ACL injury.

Performing ACL reconstruction in patients who are still growing is difficult. The ACL can be thought of as a rope that connects the thighbone to the shinbone. The rounded ends of the thighbone and shinbone are called epiphyses and the ACL dangles between them. Open growth plates are located directly behind the epiphyses in children and adolescents, but not in adults.

ACL reconstruction is difficult in children because if an adult-type reconstruction were performed, the graft would cross the growth plates, potentially causing damage that can result in uneven limb lengths or angular deformities. Thus, for many years, ACL injuries in children were managed with bracing, or surgical procedures that were not anatomic and required large incisions to avoid injuring the growth plate. In recent years, however, clinicians realized that non-operative treatment resulted in damage to menisci and articular cartilage thereby leading to early arthritis. Advances in technology, instrumentation and techniques are now available which allow surgeons to perform the reconstruction without risk of injury to the growth plate. These procedures are more technically demanding and are available only by a few surgeons across the U.S., including our very own Dr. Dougherty.

Dr. Dougherty uses a special technique in pre-pubescent patients that allows the ACL to be reconstructed without damaging the growth plate. This is called an all-epiphyseal ACL reconstruction. As opposed to treatment by prolonged bracing or surgery with potential uneven leg length, the all-epiphyseal ACL reconstruction allows the child to participate in sports and activities sooner and with significantly less complications. This technique really is a medical breakthrough for the orthopedic community and Dougherty Orthopedics is proud to be on the forefront of this movement into modern medicine.

http://www.youtube.com/user/sportsmeddr?feature=watch

Dr. Dougherty's early 2013 travels

2013-04-29T11:08:00.001-05:00

2013 has been a very busy year so far. The start of the baseball season began in January with baseball physicals in the Dominican Republic, followed by spring training for the Royals and Naturals in Surprise, Arizona in February.

April started with travel out Breg headquarters in San Diego where he helped launch the t scope brace that Dr. Dougherty helped design for patients after hip surgery. The brace is designed to help protect the patient by providing them with supportive brace that will keep the operated hip in a position of safety while allowing them to carry out their daily activities as well as protect the hip while sleeping. The brace also serves to reduce the risk of hip dislocation following surgery. It represents a significant step ahead of prior options for the hip after surgery both in terms of comfort and safety for the patient.

He then traveled out to Newport Beach California to lecture on hip arthroscopy, including delivering a new procedure for cartilage replacement in the hip that he has pioneered. This step represents a first in the world procedure that will allow for grafting of cartilage defects of both the ball and socket through the minimally invasive procedure of arthroscopy. He also spoke on pubic symphysis arthroscopy and continued his work on repairing hamstring tears through the arthroscope instead of a large open incision. In May he travels to Miami to teach shoulder and knee arthroscopy.

Concussion Education Seminar

2012-07-06T11:22:00.000-05:00

Dr. Dougherty will be speaking at the Concussion Education Seminar on July 10 at the Schmelding Center Auditorium in Springdale from 1-5 p.m. Admission is FREE and will also feature James D. Nesmith, M.D. as a speaker. To register, please contact Alison Moore at 501.472.5400. We hope to see you there!

Avoiding Heat Illness

2012-06-27T11:31:00.001-05:00

The temperature is rising faster than normal here in Northwest Arkansas and with football practice starting soon it is very important to know your facts related to heat illness.

The heat from hot temps and the heat produced by your body during physical activity can be a potentially dangerous combination. In order to stay on top of heat illnesses, hydration is key. Drink tons of water -- more than you think you should be drinking. Take frequent breaks from physical activity and stay tuned to the signs and symptoms your body is showing. Also try to wear lightweight and light colored clothing.

Heat illnesses come in various levels of concern:

1. Heat syncope - you might feel dizzy or lightheaded and have pale, wet skin

2. Heat cramps - involuntary spasms of your muscles due to excessive sodium loss through sweat

3. Heat exhaustion - this is the most common form of heat illness seen in athletes. Signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion may include: elevated body temperature, elevated heart rate, nausea or vomiting, headache, thirst

4. Heat stroke - this is a potentially fatal condition. Two things that separate heat stroke from heat exhaustion include: a high core body temperate (higher the 104) and altered consciousness, irrational behavior or disorientation.

Treatment for these conditions can vary, but they typically always include rest from the physical activity, removing excess clothing or gear, resting in a cool, shaded area and re-hydrating. If heat exhaustion or heat stroke are expected, additional measures for safety will be taken, such as immersion in an ice tub.

Be careful in this hot weather and take the extra measures necessary to stay safe while spending time in the heat.

Osteoporosis: "The Silent Thief"

2012-01-23T22:42:00.004-06:00

The facts of osteoporosis are startling:

1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men will have an osteoporosis-related fracture
24% of hip fracture patients over the age of 50 DIE IN THE FIRST YEAR after fracture
20% of hip fracture patients require long term care for the remainder of their lives
Only 15% can walk across a room unaided six months after a hip fracture

Experts call osteoporosis "the silent thief" because it robs a person's bone with no outward signs. Commonly, the first symptom is a fracture sustained from little or no trauma. For this reason, screening is critical to detecting and treating osteoporosis before a fracture occurs.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) recommends screening all women 65 and older, men 70 and older, or any adult over the age of 50 with a fracture. Screening includes a few blood tests and a bone density scan that typically takes 10-15 minutes. You can read more about the screening process by clicking this link: NOF-Diagnosing Osteoporosis.

New Year "Fitness Resolutions"

2012-01-13T12:00:00.004-06:00

Happy new year everyone!

We know that it's that time of year when everyone makes that resolution to get fit, lose some weight and start running more. As part of your "fitness resolutions" for 2012, make sure that you include stretching properly before any physical activity. Spend enough time on your body and your body will respond better and with less injury.

Make sure you visit our website for some great injury prevention and stretching tips.

Football Season Is Here!

2011-09-12T16:16:00.003-05:00

Some call it the most wonderful time of year, but football season has officially arrived, and that means it's time to take a look at some of the most common injuries you will see with football and how they can be prevented.

Football is an incredibly intensive sport on the human body. It requires constant, strenuous activity and ample recovery time. On our website, we have some great resources that can help you take care of any injuries that may occur.

Click here to visit the football page on our website!

Great Resources For Summer Athletes

2011-05-23T16:23:00.002-05:00

If you or someone you know will be taking part in rigorous athletic activity this summer, whether it's two-a-days in football or general exercise, here are some great resources regarding heat illness and overall heat protection that you need to check out:

University of Nevada Sports Medicine Heat Illness Guide (August 2010)

University of Connecticut Neag School of Education - Korey Stringer Institute

As always, be sure to check out our website for the latest tips to help you have a happy and safe summer.

We're Going Mobile!

2011-05-11T09:10:00.002-05:00

With the launch of our new website, we're excited to announce our new mobile site!

Just visit www.arsportsmedicine.com on your mobile device to experience convenient browsing, gain access to rehab protocols, view videos and more!

Naturals Off To A Great Start

2011-04-15T10:32:00.002-05:00

It's been exciting watching the Naturals back at beautiful Arvest Ballpark! It means Spring is here and baseball season is back in full swing!

For up to date Naturals news and updates on their season, make sure to visit www.nwanaturals.com. We'll see you out at the ballpark!

Spring Is In The Air

2011-03-08T08:59:00.003-06:00

We hope everyone is off to a great 2011 so far!

Spring is right around the corner and we know more and more of you will be getting outdoors and exercising in the nicer and warmer weather. That also means the NWA Naturals are gearing up to defend their Texas League crown!

Dr. Chris Dougherty had the pleasure of visiting the Kansas City Royals spring training complex in Surprise, AZ this year and am really excited for baseball season to be right around the corner.

Be sure to check out our website all throughout the spring and beyond for great information on proper stretching techniques, rehab protocols and more. Again, we hope your 2011 is starting off great and we will see you soon!

Northwest Arkansas Naturals Are Texas League Champions!

2010-11-04T10:23:00.002-05:00

We would just like to wish a belated congratulations to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on winning their first Texas League Championship Series. It was an amazing season and we can't wait for spring training to start next year!

Here is a link to the story on the official Naturals website.

Black and Blue Clinic

2010-09-03T13:50:00.002-05:00

Dr. Dougherty spoke to 40/29 last night about the new Black and Blue Clinic, an express service designed to offer care to high school athletes, coaches, cheerleaders and even game officials.

The clinic is open Friday evenings at the Northwest Arkansas Medical Center in Bentonville, from 9:30 - 11:30 p.m.

Click here to watch the story.

Concussion Prevention Tips

2010-08-31T10:23:00.002-05:00

Dr. Dougherty appeared last night on KNWA news in Northwest Arkansas to discuss tips to prevent concussions.

During football season, it's imperative that athletes and coaches take precautions in order to prevent concussions, which don't always come from head injury or contact.

Click here to visit the KNWA page for more information and to see the video that aired.

Go Naturals!

2010-04-09T14:24:00.002-05:00

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are back in action. On Opening Night, the team defeated the San Antonio Missions 5-1 at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

We're looking forward to a great season for the Naturals and the whole Royals organization.

Pre-Game Baseball Stretches

2010-03-17T13:08:00.004-05:00

Playing baseball requires being ready to move quickly and suddenly, with lot of stopping and turning, so proper conditioning is important to avoid injury. Stretching is a huge part of proper conditioning.

Sleeper Stretches
These stretches are designed to aid the range of motion in the shoulder and knee, improving performance and reducing the risk of injury.

Follow this link for more baseball exercises:

http://www.arsportsmedicine.com/pregame_stretches.html

In-Office Ultrasound

2009-11-20T08:47:00.002-06:00

Dougherty Sports Medicine is pleased to offer in-office ultrasound for the diagnosis of a variety of musculoskeletal conditions.

In-office ultrasound offers a two significant advantages for patients over relying solely on MRI:

1. If an ultrasound is indicated during your appointment, there's no need to make an additional appointment. The ultrasound can be performed immediately.

2. It is covered under msot insurance with no additional copay.

Not all problems can be imaged with ultrasound, so MRI may still be recommended. For patients whose conditions are captured by ultrasound, however, the procedure can save considerable time and money.

Dr. Dougherty serves as an instructor for musculoskeletal ultrasound and teaches diagnostic techniques to physicians from around the world.

A Busy Fall Already

2009-11-06T16:05:00.003-06:00

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals made the playoffs, which was exciting. When you work with people for a whole season it's great to see them succeed.

My teaching trip to Hawaii was excellent as I was able to instruct representatives from Australia and New Zealand in performing my double bundle ACL reconstructions as well as hip arthroscopy. They are to say the least a very entertaining group. We were invited to travel to Australia over the winter to teach more surgeons the new and exciting techniques.

I also had the opportunity to be on the air with KREB 1190 AM. We discussed the difference between double bundle ACL reconstructions and a standard reconstruction. We also covered how to reduce your chances of injury and what exercises to do. You can find may of these exercises on Dougherty Sports Medicine's Physical Therapy page. In addition we talked about collarbone fractures and how treating them with a nail that I place inside the collarbone rather than a plate on the outside lets you get back to activity as quickly as possible without a large incision and pain from the plate when you get hit wearing shoulder pads. Probably the best feature of the nail over the plate is the amount and level of activity that you are able to get back to very quickly as you can often resume full activity in just a few days to weeks after nail insertion.

I traveled to Florida at the end of September to teach surgeons from Japan and Asia as well as serving as a laboratory instructor for the Arthroscopy Association of North America’s annual meeting, teaching hip arthroscopy to other surgeons.

Summer Roundup

2009-10-21T12:12:00.005-05:00

May - Newcastle England – Newcastle is a beautiful city about three hours north of London. It took awhile to get there as the plane out of Detroit was delayed almost 5 hours. The weather was fantastic and sunny. The medieval architecture and old castle and church were breathtaking. It’s hard to comprehend sections of the city standing for over 900 years. Took in our first cricket match in Durham and it was great, even though the home team lost 136 to 137. The meeting involved teaching shoulder arthroscopy, including rotator cuff and instability repairs as well as very difficult posterior labral tears and instability of the shoulder. We also covered knee arthroscopy, including double bundle ACL reconstructions, as well as hip arthroscopy with labral repair. Representatives were present from Turkey, Ireland, North America, Lybia, Egypt, South Africa, England, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. The meeting was hosted by Linvatec and was a fantastic trip with the opportunity to teach new techniques to such a broad audience.

June – Visiting Surgeon in to learn about hip arthroscopy from Orlando, FL. We performed two surgeries, including a labral repair and psoas release as well as an Iliotibial band release and trochanteric bursectomy along with labral debridement.

July – Spoke at a meeting in Hawaii on anatomic ACL reconstructions. ACL tears are extremely common and debate over how to repair them (ie--single bundle or double bundle) continues. Your original ACL has two bundles but it can be very difficult to place two bundles back into the knee. Anatomic reconstruction whether it’s single bundle or double bundle simply means placing the graft in the normal anatomic position for that bundle. Surgeons came in from New Zealand and Australia, so this was a very fun meeting.

August - A busy month. I had a teaching engagement where I talked about rotator cuff repairs and prehabilitation for shoulder injuries for a physicians educational Seminar. I landed in Florida on the 6th to work on more prototype testing for my clavicle nail with the company that I am in development with and then spoke in Bella Vista at the end of the month on Arthritis and injury prevention. In between these I taught hip arthroscopy and my patent pending ACL reconstructions in Oahu, Hawaii.

MRSA - What it is, Where To Find It, How To Treat It

2009-09-24T16:01:00.002-05:00

MRSA (Methicillan-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, pronounced “meth-eh-sill-an staff-ill-o-cock-us or-ee-us”) is a type of bacteria that can cause infections in humans that are often difficult to treat.

MRSA is a highly virulent form of staph infection that resists most treatment with antibiotics—it is thought to have evolved the ability to survive treatment due to overuse of antibiotics.

It can be found all around us, including some places you wouldn’t commonly think to look. For instance, several years ago I conducted a study concurrent with the St. Louis Rams to determine the sources of MRSA infections in our players. We both suspected it may be coming from the Astroturf, but were surprised to discover the real sources:

· Under the rails on the treatment tubs

· On the door frames outside the restrooms

No other surfaces grew it, and no cultures grew from the Astroturf.

After the study, it became clear that it was necessary to sanitize exposed surfaces in the locker rooms, restrooms and treatment areas—doorframes and rails were sanitized against staph with bleach.

As the head team orthopedic surgeon for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, I treat all kinds of sports injuries, including MRSA and normal Staph infections. We take all wounds very seriously and treat them with topical antibiotics, such as over the counter bactroban, after thoroughly cleaning the wound with soap and water or alcohol in an effort to destroy as much bacteria as possible. Soap can break down the cell wall while the water reduces the number of bacteria on the skin by simple dilution. The alcohol also kills the bacteria. Then we closely monitor the wound to make sure it is getting better and that specific antibiotics will not be needed to treat resistant bacteria.

How Do I Know If I Have A MRSA Infection Or Normal Staph Infection?

The only way to tell if you have a MRSA infection versus a regular Staph infection is to check for response to antibiotics. Regular Staph infections, known as Methicillin-sensitive Staph aureus or MSSA, are drug-sensitive and easier to treat. Because it’s so difficult to tell which kind of infection you have, it’s important to treat any Staph infection topically as well as with the usual antibiotics. Treat the wound topically with antibacterial ointment such as bactroban or Neosporin after cleaning the wound and let your doctor look at it.

Keep in mind that if you’re commonly in areas, such as locker rooms, where Staph bacteria are prevalent, you may have it on your skin, and a small puncture can lead to an infection. It’s important to wash your hands and clean around even small scrapes sustained on the field.

Dr. Dougherty’s First-Quarter Roundup

2009-07-09T11:07:00.002-05:00

January

Spoke on Rotator cuff repairs in Santa Barbara, California. Meeting went very well. Double row arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs are rapidly becoming the standard of care and it is gratifying to be able to teach this technique to others.

February

Returned from Florida, where I worked in the lab on new surgical procedures for Bicep repairs and minimally invasive shoulder repairs. I also worked on a new technique for ACL reconstructions that I have United States Patent pending. Very excited about bringing this to the public to restore normal kinematics in the knee.

Spoke to the Rogers Optimist club about Double Bundle ACL reconstructions where we restore the normal native bundles of a torn ACL to the knee instead of just one, which is how a reconstruction is usually performed. What is most important is understanding how two bundles are being seen to be more protective to your knee cartilage than one bundle.

Just completed our third Annual Razor Sports Medicine Symposium, in Fayetteville, AR. The meeting is designed to bring the latest in orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation to the athletic trainers, physicians and other caregivers in Northwest Arkansas. This year was no different in that we brought out information that will help keep all of the athletes of NWA on the playing field.

March

Attended the Hip arthroscopy summit in Vail, Colorado. This was a very exciting meeting where hip arthroscopy surgeons met to discuss outcome studies, and challenges in hip arthroscopy. It is refreshing to see so many publications coming out showing significant sustained improvement from baseline following hip arthroscopy for specific injuries.

Returned from the AOASM sports medicine meeting in Snowbird, Utah. Spoke there on single socket double bundle ACL reconstructions. I truly believe this procedure will be the next wave of improvement in ACL repairs. Standard double bundle can be limited by the patient’s knee, but this new technique provides a double bundle ACL (as close to your original ligament before it tore) to be placed into nearly all patients.

Spring Training With the Naturals and Royals

2009-05-20T11:09:00.000-05:00

Spring training for the Royals/Naturals went well this year. While there we look at incoming players and perform pre-participation exams. Every test is an effort to help the player perform at his highest level without injury. I do orthopedic exams looking at their shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, wrists, and spines. It takes place in Surprise, Arizona at the Royals spring training complex. Every year the Royals organization puts the best athletes on the field and this year is no different. So far, the season has gone well—the Naturals and Royals are both winning games and the pitching looks great.

It’s great to see both teams battling for first place!

Welcome to the Dougherty Sports Medicine blog!

2009-05-12T08:36:00.000-05:00

Dr. Dougherty and his staff will use this space in the future to announce new offerings, update conditioning and rehab regimens, issue reminders and generally keep patients and the community informed.

Stay tuned!