It’s always sad to see America’s past time come to an end, but I know with every end of baseball season, America’s passion is beginning… Football. Football is the symbol of fall. The kids are back in school, the leaves will be changing, and our weekends are planned around the game – Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday nights. Awww, football is back!

Football season is also a special time for me because I am a team physician with Olentangy Liberty High School. This will be my sixth season with Olentangy and each year I look more forward to working with the kids, meeting their families and supporting our young athletes. I’m perhaps most excited about our season opener because it pairs two of Ohio’s best football programs – Olentangy and my current hometown Dublin Coffman. Olentangy and Dublin will clash in the Herbstreit Classic at Ohio Stadium. The game will air on ESPNU on August 30 at noon; or you can join us live by purchasing tickets at www.ticketweb.com.

As a team physician I work with the coaches and trainers pre-game to ensure warm-ups and stretching prevent injury. We monitor the athletes during the game to understand the way their bodies move and what pressures are being put on their bones and joints and of course after the game to ice, heat, stretch and heal their muscles to strengthen for the next week. If there is an injury, we nurture, treat and heal as necessary. As a team physician my goal is to be a part of the team so when they do need me I am there to work with the athlete, their parents and coaches. 

This is truly my favorite time of the year and I hope you join me in the excitement of football season. Naturally, if you don’t make it to the game or catch it on ESPNU, we’ll fill you in on who won and which of our student athletes raised the bar of high school football at the Herbstreit Classic.

The physicians and staff of Ohio Foot & Ankle Center are proud to share our stories and initiatives revolving around the focused area of the foot and ankle. Our new Web site is designed to bring you into our world of research and education.

We’re updating ourselves online through our blog posts, direct connection to our on-call nurse and much more to provide real-time information to our patients and peers. We’ve enjoyed the process of enhancing our online presence and ultimately want to provide you with the best online resources for total foot and ankle care.

In the ever-changing field of science and medicine, our goal to provide the very best healthcare for the foot and ankle and to provide leadership in research and education remains consistent. The national organizations of our profession, such as the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) and the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) allow surgeons to create the oversight necessary to insure the very best.

We’re proud to be certified and recognized by our professional communities. This commitment has and will continue to revolve around the patient. As a profession, we stand responsible to our patients and to our science. We look forward to serving you both online and in our office. Check back often for updates on our science, research, staff and more.

After months of participation in the Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement (STAR) group and the Pivotal Study Group (ankle fusion) our efforts paid off with the submission of “Prospective Controlled Trial of Scandinavian Total Ankle Fusion: Initial Results” winning the Roger A. Mann Award at the 25th Annual American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Summer Meeting.

Our participation in the study is unique to Central Ohio in that not many physicians in the state are executing a total ankle replacement, let alone as many procedures as our physicians are doing. Additionally we stand out because of the length of time we have been able to follow our patients. Our participating physicians include Gregory C. Berlet, MD and Thomas H. Lee, MD.

For those unfamiliar, the Roger A. Mann award is like winning the World Series of clinical papers. The other physicians we worked with in this trial are at the top of our industry and to work with them, participate in the submission of this abstract and win the award are and will continue to be a highlight of our careers.

In addition to the Roger A. Mann award, our abstract “Early Weight Bearing of Calcaneal Fractures with Locked Plates,” authored in part by Christopher F. Hyer, DPM; Berlet, MD; and Lee, MD won the second place Best Poster Award.

We are continually working to improve the life of our patients and their quality of care. To learn more about our participation in this study, we encourage you to read the full abstract provided.

Read full abstract

Prospective Controlled Trial of STAR Total Ankle Replacement Versus Ankle
Fusion: Initial Results – ©2009

Download press release

Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Center Wins Top Honors at 25th Annual American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Summer Meeting – August 1, 2009