Your Questions answered by Dr. Brophy and Dr. Halstead

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Approximately how many stitches do the Blues receive each year?We typically will have to stitch up a cut approximately every other game and the cuts are usually ¼ to 1 inch long and require 4 to 5 stitches per cut. Approximately 15 to 20 lacerations require suturing each year.

It’s well known that professional athletes must engage in strength and aerobic training in order to perform at their level of play. How much stretching is involved in their training routine and what’s the latest recommendations regarding stretching?Many of the Blues players like most athletes do some forms of stretching. Recently, over the last several years some controversy has arisen regarding how much stretching is appropriate, but most do upper and lower body stretching prior to practice and games.

What is the best cardio exercise to do in the presence of hip bursitis?Almost any form of cardio exercise in the presence of hip bursitis would aggravate it. This would include elliptical, treadmill, StairMaster, running and walking. Cycling probably would also aggravate hip bursitis. Swimming may be the least aggravating. It would be better to treat the hip bursitis which would then allow you to follow any cardiovascular exercise program that you desire.

How do you determine the severity of a concussion? What causes a player to be out so long in instances like David Perron is facing?Severity of a concussion is determined by a variety of signs and symptoms based on symptoms such as loss of consciousness, headaches, fatigue, visual and other sensory changes. The severity of a concussion is difficult to ascertain at the time of injury and what may be seemingly moderate injuries may result in long-term symptoms or more severe injuries may result in relatively quick resolution. This is what makes concussion treatment so difficult. It is hard to predict symptomatology and duration.
What path did you take that led you to become a Blues team physician? Following four years of undergraduate work and four years of medical school, I pursued an orthopaedic surgery residency that lasted five years. Following my orthopaedic surgery residency I did a sports medicine fellowship for subspecialty training in sports medicine at the Minneapolis Sports Medicine Center. During that time I had exposure to coverage of the professional teams in Minneapolis which helped prepare me for the opportunity that arose in our third year of practice when our group was asked to take over the care of the St. Louis Blues Hockey team.