Dr. Moretz, who practices in Utica but performs all of his arthroscopic knee and shoulder surgeries at St. Joseph’s North Surgery Center in Liverpool, NY, treats his patients as if they were athletes, even though they may not be. “Sports medicine is a philosophy to me rather than a specialty,” Dr. Moretz says. “I could have a badly sprained ankle myself, stay off of it for three or four weeks, undergo some physical therapy and be fine, but if you’re a high school football player who has only seven weeks in his season, time is very important. In those cases, our philosophy is to do everything we can to get them back to their original level of activity as quickly as we can as long as there is no increased risk of further injury.” That philosophy applies to non-athletes—such as a self-employed carpenter who is unable to work—as well as athletes. For these people, “no work, no pay” is a powerful incentive, so Dr. Moretz treats these patients like athletes, as well. The rest of us who may eventually need the care of a sports medicine doctor for whatever reason are fortunate to live at a time when the science is leapfrogging itself with one advancement after another. Drs. Axelrod and Moretz came to sports medicine at different times and through different pathways than Dr. Smart. When Dr. Axelrod and Dr. Moretz completed their residencies, arthroscopic surgery was
Surgeon Alfred Moretz, MD, performs arthroscopic surgery on a patient who tore his meniscus while playing high school soccer. He is looking toward a monitor that visualizes the knee.
www.sjhsyr.org
l
in its earliest stages and fellowships in sports medicine were not yet offered. The miniature instruments and closed-circuit television cameras the size of a soda straw had not been invented yet, but as they were, Dr. Axelrod and Dr. Moretz seized every opportunity to polish their operative skills with the new technology over the years. Dr. Smart, on the other hand, entered a one-year fellowship in sports medicine at the New England Baptist Hospital in Boston following his orthopedic internship and residency at the Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. That consisted, he says, of practically a whole year doing little else besides arthroscopic surgery on all the body’s major joints, but primarily on the most often injured knees and shoulders. Part of that involved working with a sports team, in his case, the Boston Celtics and Harvard’s athletic teams. All three surgeons continue to be challenged by fastmoving changes to equipment and techniques. “The concepts and equipment we use in shoulder surgery today are totally different than they were only three years ago,” Dr. Moretz says, “so staying current is a real challenge.” But talk to any orthopedist and you’re liable to hear the same thing when you ask them how they like their jobs. They are virtually all happy, they say, because their patients have very definable problems with very specific solutions, and they get better quickly. The patients are also motivated to work with their physicians. At some point, they even have to be “reined in.” That, all three admit, is fun and very satisfying. l
spring 2011
l
St. Joseph’s hospital Health Center
l
Dr. Moretz reassures his patient prior to surgery to repair an injury to his right knee. In addition to his private practice, Dr. Moretz is a team physician at Utica College.
15
caring Connection