Got Pain? Mammoth Orthopedic Institute Offers New Treatments to Residents and Guests of the Eastern Sierra

Our beautiful east side offers unlimited recreational opportunity to meet any active lifestyle.  It also affords a peaceful and majestic environment to enjoy less strenuous activities like walking the dog, fishing, gardening, photography, painting, music, and family gatherings.  But injury or pain from degenerative conditions can interfere with quality and enjoyment of life.  The Mammoth Orthopedic Institute has the facilities, technology, knowledge, and experience to assist you in living more pain free.

“Now, more than ever, there are a variety of interventions that can be tried that can relieve suffering and improve function before resorting to surgery,” said Dr. Brian Gilmer who joined the Institute in October of 2014.  “Platelet Rich Plasma injections, for example, may be used to stimulate the healing response in soft tissue.  Visco supplementation is another intermediate therapy that can relieve joint pain in arthritic conditions.  This, according to Gilmer, involves injecting a lubricating substance into the painful joint that is no longer producing enough of its own.  “We also use Xiaflex injections to break down the thick scar tissue that can form in the hand with Dupytren’s Contracture.  This allows us to restore functional range of motion without the need for surgery.  We also routinely use ultrasound guidance to accurately target tendons and other structures we are injecting in the shoulder and other joints to ensure the medicine gets concentrated precisely in the painful structure.  It’s great having Dr. Peter Clark as a sports trained family medicine physician on our team as well to broaden our medical expertise.”

“The Institute was formed this past year to better support the level of expertise that our orthopedic program has attained in the past few years,” said Tim Crall, one of the principle physicians in the group.  “We’ve expanded our interests into conducting and publishing our research to add to the medical literature in orthopedics.  Over the past few years we’ve broadened our service lines to include spine, hand, and foot and ankle care.  We are actively teaching medical students, sports medicine fellows, and will soon have orthopedic residents doing rural rotations at Mammoth Hospital with us.  We are working with Loma Linda University Medical School to develop a fellowship program here and plan to offer an annual symposium in orthopedics in the summer of 2017.  It’s all very exciting and we’re proud to offer a very comprehensive program of high quality, minimally invasive services and first rate trauma care and a total joint replacement program to our residents and guests.”

The three principles in the group, Dr. Tim Crall, Dr. Brian Gilmer, and Dr. Mike Karch are all fellowship trained in advanced arthroscopic surgery and all are highly experienced in treating orthopedic trauma.  Dr. Karch has focused his practice almost exclusively over the past few years to Total Hip and Knee Replacement.   Both Crall and Gilmer are highly skilled in minimally invasive surgical techniques for shoulder, knee, and other peripheral joint and soft tissue repairs and reconstructions.  Additionally, they both perform total shoulder joint replacements. “ Surgery is becoming more specialized and we respect the advantages that repetition and working consistently with a focused, high-performance team bring to reducing variability, increasing patient safety, and improving quality outcomes,” said Dr. Mike Karch.

“Many of our Total Joint Replacement patients are going home within 24 hours because of the Institute’s team approach to care.  It takes the coordinated effort of a number of skilled people, including  anesthesiologists with advanced skills, experienced surgical staff,  physician assistants, physical therapist, nurses, information technologists, environmental services staff, and financial experts  to achieve that level of care,” said Karch with a smile.  “Great medical care is a team sport that is all centered on the needs of the individual patient.

The Institute partners with four subspecialists from the Torrey Pines Orthopedic Group in San Diego to round out their comprehensive, team approach to care.  Dr. Richard Brown is a highly renowned hand surgeon, Dr. Richard Thunder is fellowship trained in spine surgery, David Hackley, M.D. is the chief of orthopedic trauma at Scripps La Jolla, and Dr. David Dalstrom is fellowship trained in foot and ankle injuries.  Each is well known in their field, highly skilled, and passionate about supporting Mammoth Hospital’s philosophy of Patients First!

Check out the Mammoth Orthopedic Institute (MOI) physicians and staff online on our Orthopedics page or call (760) 924-4084 for more information or to schedule an appointment at any of their convenient locations in Mammoth, Bishop, or Lone Pine.