Blog Archive

In 2022, 3.6 million Americans visited the emergency room for sports injuries. The actual total is likely much higher if you count sports injuries that aren’t reported.  Unfortunately, many people may rush their recovery in an attempt to get back to their sport. This can actually prolong your healing period....

Sprained ankles are common, and even light ones impact the ankle’s supporting ligaments and joints. However, repeated ankle sprains can signal a budding instability problem. Increased ligament and joint laxity cause sprains to occur more frequently and cause even more damage.  David Dickerson, MD, and Shawn Denning, DNP, APN, at...

If you’re preparing for joint replacement surgery soon, your doctors have probably given you a major resolution to help the surgery go well: Drop as much weight as you can and get as healthy as you can. Every additional pound you carry will be multiplying the pressure on your new...

If you're preparing for a total hip replacement surgery, knowing what to expect during the first week of your recovery can help you feel more confident (and less anxious) about your journey ahead. Because each patient and each surgery is unique, our team of orthopaedic specialists led David Dickerson, MD...

Tennis elbow gets its name because of the powerful repeated arm movements made during racket sports that commonly trigger this condition. The tendons attaching muscle to bone in your arm can be damaged during any sport or occupation that causes repetitive strain.  When you overwork these tendons, micro-tears develop and...

Mallet finger injuries are a common but often underestimated problem. This type of injury affects your fingertip's ability to straighten and can be caused by various factors, from sports mishaps to everyday accidents. At Performance Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Toms River, Shrewsbury, and Wall Township, New Jersey, David Dickerson,...

Sports injuries and other injuries involving your joints and bones can take a toll on your mobility and quality of life. While prompt medical care is essential for healing, it’s also important to make lifestyle changes that can help relieve pain, improve mobility, and ensure you enjoy better overall wellness. At Performance...

Elbow fractures are a fairly common arm injury, especially among kids. Like other fractures, severe or complex elbow fractures typically need surgery to rebuild the joint and preserve its function. But what about milder fractures? Do they need surgery, too? The answer is: Not always. Caring for patients in Toms River, Shrewsbury, and...

You hear a lot about body tissues like muscle and bone, but growth plates are a little more obscure. Comprised of soft yet firm cartilage, growth plates cap the ends of the long bones in your arms and legs. They’re responsible for your height increases, limb lengthening, and the strengthening...

Elite runners and dancers, military recruits marching in formation, and even the stay-at-home mom going for a jog around the block can develop agonizing shin splints. Shin splints are painful overuse injuries that occur when you engage in high-impact activity and strain your lower leg muscles, tendons, and bones.  You’re...

There are a lot of things you can do to stay healthy, but physical activity like running is a simple and effective way to help with a multitude of things, including strengthening bones and muscles, controlling your weight, and reducing your risk of various diseases. Diet and many other lifestyle choices...

Your hand is a hard-working part of your anatomy — sometimes, you don’t even realize that it’s working. For instance, as you read this blog, you’re likely blissfully unaware of the tendons, muscles, and ligaments at work behind each scroll of your thumb.  Your hand has over 30 muscles and...

Your shoulders are remarkably complex ball-and-socket joints that hinge your arms to your torso. You rely on their wide range of motion for reaching, throwing, lifting, and numerous other movements. Shoulder pain is common. In fact, it is the third most common reason why people seek physical therapy. It tends...

Prescribe FIT is a proven lifestyle program—not a fad diet or short-lived workout plan—that guides orthopedic patients to improve their health at home by focusing on the root causes of their musculoskeletal (MSK) pain and/or arthritic conditions.   With small changes to nutrition, physical activity, and lifestyle, Prescribe FIT helps patients...

Your elbow is a relatively underrated part of your body. It’s responsible for so much of your ability to move and perform various tasks, but you often don’t think about it until you bump it against the corner of the table. Because your elbow is vital to your daily functioning,...

Your knee is a complex joint that gets a lot of action, so it’s prone to several injuries. Some develop slowly over the years; others happen in the blink of an eye. You might be tempted to ignore pain and weakness, but they can lead to chronic problems affecting your...

Unfortunately, accidentally twisting your wrist and injuring the ligaments in the joint is pretty common. Much of the time, this type of injury leads to a wrist sprain, which happens when the ligaments that support the joint are stretched too far.  If you suspect you have a sprained wrist, it...

Mention the word arthritis and most people think of the painful disease that affects your knees and hands. These are common places for arthritis to occur. But your hips can be affected too. Understanding how hip arthritis happens and the types of arthritis that affect your hip joints is important...

If your knees break down due to injury or wear-and-tear, a total knee replacement procedure can get you back to moving freely without pain or restriction. And, patients who need a total knee replacement procedure should know about advances in robotic surgery technology. At Performance Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, we offer Mako® Total Knee...

You use your hands every day, and it’s easy to take for granted everything they help you do. But some of those daily tasks may have put stress on your hands and wrists, contributing to the development of a painful condition called carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). At Performance Orthopaedics and Sports...

When most people think of breaking an arm, they think of fractures that happen in the upper arm or lower arm. But your elbow can break, too. In fact, elbow fractures are the most common type of fracture among kids.  David Dickerson, MD, uses advanced methods for diagnosing and treating elbow fractures...

The medical name for trigger finger is stenosing tenosynovitis, and the cause is inflammation of the sheaths that surround the tendons that connect the muscles and bones of your finger joints. You can develop trigger finger in any of your fingers or your thumbs.  Dr. David Dickerson and Dr. Shawn Denning at Performance Orthopaedics...

As you go through everyday life, the rotator cuff in your shoulder tolerates extensive wear-and-tear. And if you're involved in athletic activities, you place intense stress on these muscles, making you vulnerable to sports injuries that injure the rotator cuff and have a significant impact on your ability to return to the...

Most of us have heard the phrase “food is fuel.” However, much diet and nutrition advice focuses on weight loss and management. While maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for good health and physical performance, the food you eat affects more than just the size of your waist.  From your...

A new lump on your wrist can set off warning bells in your mind. But before you start overthinking, let our experts at Performance Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine ease your mind.  Upwards of 60%-70% of all soft tissue masses found in the wrist are noncancerous bumps called ganglion cysts. Here’s what you should know about how...

Being able to move without pain is a crucial part of living an active, healthy lifestyle regardless of your age. Hip replacement surgery is an option, even for people younger than 50. New techniques and devices make hip replacement a good choice for younger people.  At Performance Orthopaedics, our board-certified...

Did you know that your knees withstand an enormous amount of stress every day? Every one pound of body weight translates into three pounds of pressure on your knees. Add to this the wide number of movements you perform every day in walking, sitting, standing up, kneeling, running, squatting, and...

Like any other fracture, a shoulder injury might require immobilization to heal properly. The shoulder is one of the most flexible joints in the body, but that also makes it difficult to heal. To restore full function, you and your doctor must work together to determine how much damage was...

Your knee is the largest joint in your body, and it’s one of the most important joints when it comes to your mobility. Your knee is composed of bones, articular cartilage, menisci, ligaments, and tendons. Because your knee is used so frequently and there are so many components in it,...

Rotator cuff tears can be painful and even debilitating for some. If you have such an injury or have unexplained pain in your shoulder, it’s important that you schedule a diagnostic evaluation with an orthopedic specialist like David Dickerson, MD at Performance Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine. Without the right care,...

Osteoarthritis, a chronic joint condition, is actually the most common type of arthritis. And, even though it usually shows up in people over 60, it can actually affect people who are far younger. To understand why this is so, it helps to understand what causes osteoarthritis.  At Performance Orthopaedics and...

Your shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and heels all have small sacs, filled with a jelly-like substance, providing a sort of cushion between your bones. Normally, they reduce friction and allow your joints to move without rubbing against each other.  The cushions are called bursae, and when they become inflamed, you...

Shoulder impingement, or impingement syndrome, is a condition caused by friction between the rotator cuff (a group of tendons and muscles that surround your shoulder) and the nearby bones.  Because several bones meet in the shoulder (including the upper arm bones, the shoulder blade, and the collarbone), the shoulder area...

You probably don’t give too much thought to your ankles most days, but they are quite amazing. Each of your ankles is made up of five bones, and despite how we talk about it, your ankle has two joints, rather than one. Along with the bones, your ankle joints contain...

Your knee is a complex joint, one that allows you to move your legs freely. The knee has ligaments that hold the bones of your thigh and lower leg in place. As a result of some type of injury — usually severe enough to tear the ligaments — your knee...

As an injured athlete, one of the first things you want to know is when you can return to the sports you love to play. When your shoulder is dislocated, it can be tempting to rush back into the game once your initial pain subsides.  No one understands this better...

To learn that you have a cyst or mass can be scary, but the good news is that ganglion cysts are noncancerous. They’re also often painless, but they can be problematic. You may not like the way it looks, or it may begin to press on a nerve and cause...

Medically termed medial tibial stress syndrome, shin splints is a cumulative stress disorder often associated with runners and other athletes, as well as people who routinely engage in strenuous physical activity. The disorder arises from repeated stress on the muscles, tendons, and bones of your lower legs that also prevents...

Elbow tendonitis is a common cause of elbow pain — yet it’s one we don’t hear about very often. That’s probably because it’s more typically called tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow, among other common names.  Both tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow are types of elbow tendonitis, but each affects a...

In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the body’s immune system attacks tissues and joints, causing pain, swelling, and joint deformity. Hand arthritis affects the lining of the joints in the hand, which become inflamed and painful. A chronic condition, RA tends to worsen over time without treatment and can cause disability. Here...

Every year in the United States, between 100,000 and 200,000 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears occur, resulting in significant knee instability for women and men of all ages. ACL tears are especially common among athletes, but they can occur in anyone of just about any age. For many patients, ACL...

Some of the best ways to prevent musculoskeletal injuries — hamstrings, Achilles tendons, lower back — are with daily exercises, proper warm-ups before workouts, and a healthy lifestyle. And your shoulder, which includes your rotator cuff, is no different. Some preventive measures can go a long way in helping you...

Medically known as adhesive capsulitis, a frozen shoulder can strike when you’re sidelined due to an injury or when you have certain medical conditions. The resulting pain and stiffness can make everyday activities difficult. Left untreated, a frozen shoulder can get worse and significantly interfere with your daily life.  At...

Since the day you were born, you’ve relied on your hands to crawl, communicate, feed yourself, and accomplish tasks both big and small. It’s easy to take that gift for granted until signs of arthritis set in. Just like the visible signs of aging on the outside of your hands,...

It's not just sports like tennis, golf, and baseball that can put stress on your elbow joints. Repetitive everyday stresses can severely damage your elbow, leading to painful fracturing of the joint. When you need surgery for your fractured elbow, what should you expect during your healing process, and when...

Did you know that concussions are considered a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI)? Concussions usually result after you hit your head or experience violent movement, like a hard collision or car accident. They can be mild or severe, but any level of concussion affects your brain function and can...

If you’re suffering from joint pain and wondering whether a joint replacement surgery could help, you’re in good company. About 1 million Americans elect to have joint replacement surgery each year, making joint replacements one of the most common elective surgeries in the country.  While the idea of having a...

Over 1 million Americans suffer bone injuries each year. If you’re one of them, you may have heard the terms “break” and “fracture” and wondered about the difference between them. Some people assume that fractured bones are more serious than broken bones, while others assume it’s the other way around....

Getting back in the game after an injury or surgery is often a challenge. Do it too soon, and you can re-injure yourself after weeks, or even months, of rehabilitation. At Performance Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Dr. David Dickerson, an accomplished orthopedic surgeon, understands that you want to resume your...

Pediatric fractures are sometimes different than what you’d expect. While children can have complete fractures, their bones are still developing and have a thick coating that makes them slightly more flexible than adult bones. As a result, your child could develop a greenstick fracture in which the bone bends, but...