It was great to lead a fireside chat to a group of 50 people, young and old, at Warren Miller’s house at the Yellowstone Club in Montana. I had the pleasure of treating his wife Laurie in San Francisco for a hand condition, and she and Warren had me as a special guest for their traditional after ski gathering on a Saturday afternoon. We talked about how video game skills transfer to the operating room in terms of doing microscopic surgery and arthroscopic surgery. We talked about children with overuse injuries, which are becoming an epidemic in the upper extremity world, and I cautioned against scheduling intensive year round single sports activities. We touched on the newer technologies in terms of arthroscopic surgery for small joints including the wrist, the base of the thumb and even small joints of the fingers. We also talked about new bioactive biological materials to help with joint, tendon and nerve reconstructions. These “quasi-artificial” technologies are becoming more and more mainstream, however, not everyone offers these treatments. Finally, we talked a little bit about simple preventive measures such as using wrist guards for snow boarders, both the novice and the more experienced snowboarders. I told the audience that in my entire career I have never taken care of a wrist fracture in a snowboarder/skateboarder who was wearing wrist guards… only ones that were not! More later… be active and be safe!
Originally posted on April 5, 2012