Local Care Keeps Patients Close to Home

I'm Patrick Moriarty. I'm from Brookings, South Dakota originally. I grew up here and stayed here through my undergraduate degree at SDSU. Most recently, I've been in northern Minnesota performing general orthopedics, having a practice there and I've decided to move back home and provide those services and have some chapters here at home performing orthopedics. 

What is General Orthopedics?
 
General orthopedics is caring for the common injuries that are associated with the musculoskeletal system. Musculoskeletal system includes the bones, tendons, ligaments, joints. The general part of it is treatment of the common injuries: lacerations, fractures, strains, wear and tear injuries, osteoarthritis. 

What Common Injuries Require General Orthopedic Services?
 
The most common complaints that people see us for involve fractures and strains, arthritic wear and tear changes, injuries involving the musculoskeletal system, such as tendons, ligaments, bone, childhood fractures, carpal tunnel, troubles with the hand such as trigger finger, arthritis pains of the various joints, knees and hip and ankle. Ankle fractures are very common. Wrist fractures are probably the most common fracture.

What Types of Treatment and Procedures Do You Offer?
 
We are an orthopedic service, which in the end, oftentimes results in surgery. We do assess them to see if they're a good candidate or if there's something more conservative that can be done to treat them, such as a cast or splint and time to heal, versus needing open intervention, surgical intervention, specifically like a plate or a rod for fixation of fractures. We provide knee and hip replacement surgery as an option when the patient has appropriately gone through the conservative management, you know, to hopefully delay that as long as possible or as long as reasonable.

We have extensive volume in patients with shoulder complaints and provide arthroscopic procedures to relieve their shoulder symptoms, involving the rotator cuff or impingement from bony prominences aggravating their tendon. We do arthroscopy of the knee and that generally is for something such as a cartilage or a meniscus tear in the knee or a ACL or ligamentous injury in the knee.

Why Do You Recommend Brookings Health System for Orthopedic Care?
 
It gives a patient the opportunity to have care close to home. And I think, importantly, it allows their family to be closer for visiting and being at their side. Some of them are not even from Brookings specifically, even some of the outlying smaller towns. It would have added 50 miles to the 35 or the 40 miles that it is, and that makes the difference between maybe going for the day or going home for the night and not going home. You know, with weather, with just time and responsibilities at home, crops, businesses, other kids in the house, you know. I think it's a nice opportunity for them to have care close to home and have visitors from the family and it's not all by phone.