Shoulder separations are a relatively common shoulder injury. The shoulder joint is really best described as the ball and socket joint of the gleno-humeral joint. Shoulder separations actually don’t typically involve the ball and socket joint but rather the acromioclavicular joint. This is the joint made up of the outer tip of the clavicle (collar […]

Rotator Cuff (RTC) tear: a common injury of the shoulder While not every tear needs repair, those tears that exist with the symptoms of pain, weakness and sleep disturbance often require surgical repair. The vast majority of the time of the repair involves reattaching the tendon back to the bone. In this day and age […]

What are stem cells? Early in tissue development, basic and undifferentiated cells proliferate and become like appearing and like functioning. Each multiplication of the cell causes that cell to become more specific or less undifferentiated. This proliferation and transformation creates a specific tissue i.e. bone, lung, nerve, heart tissue etc. The earliest undifferentiated cells are […]

There is snow in the Sierra. Ski areas are up and running. As such ski injuries are back in the picture. The late fall and early winter season seem to always bring questions about precaution. When answering that question I tend to think about “The Four E’s”: exercise, equipment, experience, and environment. Exercise With exercise […]

If you have the misfortune of tearing your Anterior Cruciate Ligament (one of the main stabilizers of your knee) and you are active or have instability with day to day activities you are likely a candidate to have your ACL rebuilt or more accurately, reconstructed. There are many graft sources that could be used. The […]

Given the changes in information dissemination, I have been encouraged to blog. The same consultants who have encouraged blogging have also encouraged providing personal information. I’m Dr. James Pappas, M.D. and I have been in private orthopaedic practice for over 20 years. 16 years were spent as a partner in a large group practice and […]