The Sports Medicine Service is composed of four fellowship-trained faculty members with specific interest in and focus on Sports Medicine and sports-related injuries. The service employs a multidisciplinary team approach as faculty work closely in conjunction with physical therapists, athletic trainers, physiatrists and rehabilitation medicine specialists, primary care sports medicine, human performance experts, and sports nutritionists. The Service provides Sports medicine coverage for a wide variety of athletic teams ranging from local high schools to colleges to professionals. The Service is the sole provider of Sports Medicine team coverage for the St. Louis Rams Football Team, and the St. Louis Blues Hockey Team, as well as the Lindenwood Football Team and the athletic teams of Washington University.
The Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Service faculty members are:
Matthew J. Matava, MD
Rick W. Wright, MD
Robert Brophy, MD
Mark Halstead, MD
Dr. Matava completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at Emory University and a fellowship in Sports Medicine at Cincinnati Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center under Dr. Frank Noyes. Dr. Matava serves as head team physician for the St. Louis Rams Football Team and Washington University Athletic teams, and as assistant team physician for the St. Louis Blues Hockey Team. His areas of special interest are knee ligament reconstruction including revision and multi-ligament reconstruction, Meniscal allograft implantation, adolescent sports medicine, and runners' injuries.
Dr. Wright completed his orthopaedic residency at Vanderbilt University and a fellowship in sports medicine at Minnesota Sports Medicine under Dr. David Fischer. Dr. Wright serves as head team physician for the St. Louis Blues Hockey Team and as Assistant Team Physician for both the Cardinals Baseball Team and Rams Football Team. His special interests include knee ligament reconstruction, shoulder instability, rotator cuff repair, and arthroscopy.
Dr. Brophy completed his fellowship in sports medicine as well as his orthopaedic residency training at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. He serves as a team physician for the St. Louis Rams Football Team and the St. Louis Blues Hockey Team. Dr. Brophy, a former professional soccer player, has special interests in cartilage and ligament injuries, injury prevention and treatment in soccer players, and shoulder disorders.
Dr. Halstead joined the faculty in the Autumn of 2004 as a non-operative adult and pediatric sports medicine specialist. He completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin Children's Hospital and his fellowship in adult and pediatric sports medicine at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Halstead serves as an assistant team physician for the St. Louis Cardinals and Rams. His special interests include the nonoperative management of both acute and overuse musculoskeletal problems, medical issues related to sports participation, concussion management, asthma in the athlete and running injuries. Dr. Halstead also performs pre-participation evaluations for pediatric, adolescent and college athletes.
The centerpiece of the service is patient clinical and surgical care at the Outpatient Orthopedic Center in Chesterfield, MO. This facility includes outpatient offices, x-ray diagnostics, and dedicated ambulatory operating suites. Faculty members on the service also see patients at the Center for the Advanced Medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
The services sees an average of 75 new patients a weeks and treated over 3500 new patients last year. The total number of outpatient visits exceeded 10,000. Over 1200 surgical procedures were performed. The most common of these included knee arthroscopy, meniscectomies, ACL reconstruction, shoulder arthroscopy, acromioplasties, rotator cuff repair, shoulder stabilizations, and meniscal repairs. The service also performed procedures including cultured chondrocyte transplantation, osteochondral plug transplantation, and thermal capsular shrinkage. Arthroscopy of all major joints including knee, shoulder, elbow, ankle, and hip are performed.
Research is a critical part of the mission of the Sports Medicine Service. Faculty members are involved in a wide variety of research initiatives including both clinical and basic science research. Current basic science research initiatives include studies of ligament healing, osteochondral plug transplantation, articular cartilage injury and repair, kinematics and biomechanics of elbow MCL injuries and novel reconstruction strategies, and biomechanics of various techniques for repair of the rupture of large tendons such as the Achilles. Clinical research initiatives include both retrospective and prospective studies as well as outcome studies.
The Service is supported by one junior level orthopaedic resident, one senior level orthopaedic resident and a Sports Medicine fellow. Each is a vital and integral member of the service. Each of these members participates in the office evaluation and management as well as the surgical treatment of athletes. The service provides a broad and comprehensive exposure to sports medicine injuries of both the upper and lower extremities. The junior/senior resident pairing provides for an introductory exposure to the clinical problems of Sports Medicine as well as to the use of arthroscopy early in residency, followed by a senior experience in which the resident can assume increasing clinical responsibilities and solidify arthroscopic skills. This insures that each resident will be capable of handle a wide range of sports related injuries and gained appropriate arthroscopic surgical skills by the completion of residency training.