The miracles of modern medicine seem to never end. After laser and microsurgery, heart bypasses and organ transplants, the latest progress is shown in orthopedic technology.
This revolution in treating heel spurs, rotator-cuff injuries, non-healing bone fractures and tennis elbow naturally affects athletes because it is an alternative to six months of physiotherapy, Indeed, in some cases two or three treatments can replace not only physiotherapy, but also orthopedic devices and cortisone shots.
Not surprisingly, the man who is developing the procedure in Canada is Dr. Robert Gordon, former Canadian junior tennis champion and member of Canada’s junior Davis cup team, who knows all about tennis elbow. Gordon is an orthopedic surgeon who operates out of the Etobicoke General Hospital and his private practice in Etobicoke. He stumbled on the new procedure with help from a European trauma specialist.
"About a year ago I received a call from Dr. D. Schaden of Vienna, who told me of a machine that can cure certain orthopedic injuries in a very short time and saves patients months of physiotherapy," Gordon said. "I was a bit dubious, but he convinced me that with the machine, which costs up to $1 million, he successfully treated skiing superstar Franz Klammer and other athletes.
"The machine, actually, was invented in Switzerland but is sold in Austria and works along the principle of conventional spark plug technology to generate high energy shock waves," Gordon said. "Like with the development of computers, they now manufacture cheaper machines, but those are not as powerful."
The enthusiastic young doctor was quite frank when discussing the creation of the new orthopedic approach.
"Just as are many innovations in medicine, it was discovered by accident. It was first used as a kidney stone blaster and its function was to break calcium deposits in the tissues.
"To tell you the truth, when we first heard of the orthopedic lithotripsy (orthotripsy, for short) we were skeptical. It was quite shocking in that it seemed rather aggressive and scary, but the results being reported were so amazing that we decided to find out more."
That’s when Schaden flew to Toronto and spent a week teaching Gordon and his colleague, Dr. Anthony Galea, how to use the machine. They learned fast and in the past year have treated more than 100 athletes, with a 70% success rate in heel spurs and 60% for tennis elbow.
The treatments are not covered by OHIP and are not cheap. In fact, the cost ranges from $750 to $1,500 per session, which lasts 20 to 30 minutes. However, it compares favourably with six months physio expenses, time loss, etc. and most importantly, it allows athletes to resume activities within six weeks.
"Dr. Schaden told me they had treated more than 5,000 cases, many of them high level athletes," Gordon said. "We have treated members of Canada’s national basketball team, gymnasts, skiers, track stars such as Michelle Freeman of Jamaica and Canada’s Donovan Bailey. Freeman had stress fractures of the tibia and the recommended treatment was to put metal rods in her leg. We changed all that. A couple of NBA stars had similar injuries and were treated with the same type of machine.
"Bailey, whom my colleague Dr. Galea looked after, was suffering from plantar fasciitis (heel spur) and he was back running months ahead of the usual time needed for physiotherapy. We treated other track and field athletes the same way."
Word about Gordon’s new method has spread to the United States and this weekend he treated patients from Los Angeles and Atlanta. What’s interesting is that those patients were athletically inclined doctors, which is the best endorsement for the efficacy of the new technology.