Cervical Spine and Sports: A Roundtable

Cervical spine injuries are, unfortunately, a common problem for athletes who participate in contact sports such as football, hockey, or rugby. One of the most challenging roles for the physician team that cares for elite athletes is the decision making regarding cervical spine injuries and return to play considerations. Recently, AAOS Now convened a group of spine surgeons who care for elite and professional athletes to discuss this issue.

Is Outpatient TJA Here to Stay?

Maureen Leahy

Over the years, advances in arthroplasty have included improvements in surgical technique and perioperative pain protocols. As a result, outpatient total joint arthroplasty (TJA)—particularly total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA)—is becoming increasingly popular among both surgeons and patients, according to information presented at the 2015 AAOS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.

Turning Orthopaedic Surgeons into Leaders

Julie A. Neumann, MD; Kathryne J. Stabile, MD, MS; Ann H. Taylor, BSN; BG (retired) Maureen K. LeBoeuf, EdD; LTC (retired) Joe Doty, PhD; COL (retired) Dean C. Taylor, MD

Physicians are expected to lead their patients, their colleagues, their communities, and themselves, despite the well-known fact that formal leadership training and education is typically lacking in today’s medical curricula. Although leadership skills can be strengthened through practice, persistence, and feedback from coaches or colleagues, many physicians do not attain this awareness until late in their career (if they attain it at all) and rarely is it acquired formally through education.

Beyond “Medical Clearance”: Addressing and Controlling Risks

Terry Stanton

What to do about comorbid conditions that may affect outcomes Terry Stanton Medical clearance—an assessment of a patient’s fitness for surgery—is often a standard request. But a simple clearance may not uncover all of the influences on orthopaedic outcomes, as the faculty for an Instructional Course Lecture session at the Annual Meeting outlined.

Measuring Patient-Reported Outcomes in Spine Surgery

Jennie McKee

It’s an evolving science,” said Mark F. Kurd, MD, of collecting data on patient-reported outcomes after spine surgery. “There are many outcome measures out there, and we are still figuring out which ones are valid,” he continued. “But the bottom line is that, as spine surgeons, we need to measure outcomes. If we don’t, someone else is going to measure them.” Dr.

Treating Pediatric Femur Fracture Patients while On-Call

Jennie McKee

On-call orthopaedic surgeons know that when their phone rings in the middle of the night, they may need to provide emergency care for a child with a challenging injury. Jack Flynn, MD, discussed treatment of one such injury—the pediatric femur fracture—during an instructional course lecture held at the 2015 AAOS Annual Meeting.

Is Surgery the Right Approach for DRF?

Peter Pollack

Distal radius fracture (DRF) is the most common fracture we see,” said Aaron Nauth, MD, MSc, during an AAOS Annual Meeting symposium on Surgical versus Nonsurgical Treatment of Common Upper Extremity Injuries: An Evidence-Based Approach. “But what do we really know about it? We know that malunion is the most common treatment complication and that symptomatic malunion in active patients may require a corrective osteotomy.