The following is a transcript of the Dr. Jay Show from 1560 The Game in Houston, TX. Participating in the discussion are Dr. J. Michael Bennett, a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon and Sports Medicine Doctor with offices in Houston and Sugar Land, TX; Danny Arnold, Director of Plex Sports Medicine and Physical Training and Therapy; and Bob Lewis of 1650 The Game. If you have an orthopedic or sports medicine issue, please call our office at 281-633-8600 to schedule an appointment.
Dr. J. Michael Bennett: Welcome to Saturdays with Dr. Jay, your one stop shop for sports medicine and wellness. I am Dr. J. Michael Bennett with the Fondren Orthopedic Group, I’m here to teach you a little bit about sports medicine, orthopedics, injuries and wellness. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, especially when it comes to the Internet, and we’re here to clear up a few of those misconceptions.
I’m here today with Bob Lewis of 1560, and Danny Arnold of Plex, the “guru of sports performance.” I like to call Danny my “personal Yoda.” He’s amazing when it comes to sports performance and rehabilitation. A little bit of background about me, I am a board certified orthopedic surgeon and I am fellowship trained, I did my orthopedic residency at Baylor College of Medicine, that was followed by a sports medicine fellowship at the University of Miami and now I’m practicing in the Greater Houston area and I’m a member of the Fondren Orthopedic Group.
We’re talking today about physical therapy and rehabilitation. I personally think it gets a really bad rap. When I’m at the clinic, a lot of patients roll their eyes and sigh when I have to break out my script about a little bit of therapy, but it’s amazing how appreciative these people are when they come back after completing their six weeks of therapy. I think it does make a bigdifference in post-operative recovery, in injury prevention and even in sports performance.
DANNY ARNOLD – 1560 always wants to give out the right information, not some propaganda based on selling some product. That’s the great thing about the Danny Arnold Show and this show, we’re going to be able to give the facts about injuries and surgeries. I think a lot of people are intimidated by you guys – by the doctors – but I know growing up my mom (and you guys would love my mom) used to say that when anything went wrong, “Ask the doctor. The doctor knows everything.” For the public to have the opportunity to call this show and ask any question is a huge advantage. And it’s for free.
Dr. J. Michael Bennett – I agree 100 percent. That situation you’re talking about with the patient and the doctor is called “White Coat Syndrome.” We used to walk into the room in our white coats and people would run in the other direction. I think this is a great medium here at 1560 to expose some of the truths and misconceptions that most physicians face these days. The Internet has a lot to do with it because there’s a lot of misinformation out there. In addition to that, everyone is an expert. I mean you can go to GNC and ask the person behind the counter, “What’s the best supplement I can take for this?” And do you know the background of that person you are talking to? What’s their education? What’s their background? You have no idea. Supposedly they are an expert because they work at that facility but you’ve really got to know their background and be able to determine what information is good information.
We’re going to go ahead and move ahead and talk about physical therapy and sports specific training. So what exactly is physical therapy? It’s defined in the dictionary as “a health profession concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disease and disability through physical means.” Physical means can be interpreted a number of different ways. It can be modalities when it comes to therapy such as ultrasound, heat, massage; manipulation when it comes to actively or passively moving a joint; strengthening; acupuncture; plyometrics; neuromuscular training – there’s a number of ways to interpret physical therapy. The key is to do your research and determine what really encapsulates a good physical therapy facility and whether or not you are going to get the results that you want.
I can’t tell you how many times I have patients come into my office after surgery and they’re like, “Hey doc, the surgery was great, I’m doing fine, but what’s next? Can I go and play golf? Oh, yeah.” I’m a big advocate for therapy to build up that quad muscle or that VMO (Vastus Medialis Obliquus), but the patients just roll their eyes and ask if they can just do it at home. They’ll be insistent and so we’ll put them on a home program and they’ll come back six weeks later and they’re miserable; their quads are weak and their kneecap is translating – they’re hopeless. At that point we send them to therapy and they come back and they’re happy and they understand that what it takes to build that quad up and they understand what benefit they can get from therapy. It makes a big difference.
If you have questions about the information discussed here, please call our office at 281-633-8600. We have two offices serving patients in the metro Houston area — one in Houston, TX, and the other in Sugar Land, TX.
