In this The Sports Docs Podcast episode, Dr. Ashley Bassett and Dr. Catherine Logan sit down with foot and ankle experts Dr. David Pedowitz and Dr. Josh Metzl.

From evolving surgical techniques to implant innovation and accelerated return-to-play timelines, this conversation highlights how modern approaches are reshaping outcomes for high-level athletes.

In this episode of The Sports Docs Podcast, Dr. Bassett & Dr. Logan sit down LIVE from the Arthrex Team Physician Controversies with shoulder instability expert Dr. Kevin Farmer to discuss the modern management of traumatic anterior shoulder instability in athletes.

The conversation focuses on the instability continuum, including when to operate, how to evaluate bipolar bone loss, and when to add remplissage, with an emphasis on optimizing outcomes in young, high-risk athletes.

In this episode of The Sports Docs Podcast, Dr. Ashley Bassett and Dr. Catherine Logan sit down LIVE from the Arthrex Team Physician Controversies with two leading ACL experts—Dr. Pat Smith and Dr. Aaron Krych—to discuss strategies to reduce failure after ACL reconstruction.

The conversation highlights the evolution of ACL surgery, focusing on graft selection, fixation, biologic augmentation, and mechanical protection, with an emphasis on optimizing outcomes in young, high-risk athletes.

In this episode of The Sports Docs Podcast, Dr. Ashley Bassett and Dr. Catherine Logan sit down LIVE from the Arthrex Team Physician Controversies with cartilage restoration expert Dr. Travis Maak to discuss the modern surgical management of knee cartilage defects.

The conversation focuses on diagnostic workup, surgical decision-making, and cutting-edge cartilage restoration techniques, including Autocart, BioCartilage, and Cartiform.

In this episode of The Sports Docs Podcast, Dr. Ashley Bassett and Dr. Catherine Logan sit down LIVE from the Arthrex Team Physician Controversies with two leaders in sports medicine—Dr. Neal ElAttrache and Dr. Jeffrey Dugas—to discuss the modern management of ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injuries in throwing athletes.

In this episode of The Sports Docs Podcast, Dr. Ashley Bassett and Dr. Catherine Logan sit down LIVE from the Arthrex Team Physician Controversies Conference to explore how next-generation arthroscopic imaging is transforming the way orthopaedic surgeons diagnose and treat injuries.

Joined by Dr. James Voos—Chairman of Orthopedics at University Hospitals and Head Team Physician for the Cleveland Browns—the conversation dives into the evolution of nano arthroscopy, panoramic visualization, and integrated imaging systems, and what these advancements mean for surgeons, athletes, and patient outcomes.

Today, we’re tackling the question: “Should I have surgery for my type III AC joint separation?” If you are a sports medicine or shoulder surgeon, you’ve definitely had this conversation with your patients. And if you are an athlete, you’ve probably googled this after landing on your shoulder snowboarding, playing hockey, playing football etc. And the truth is – the answer isn’t black and white. But to try to answer that question, we’re going to review an article titled “Functional, Radiological, and Scapular Motion Evaluation of Surgical Versus Nonsurgical Treatment of Type 3 Acromioclavicular Dislocations.” 

Today, we’re chatting about recurrent patellar instability, and specifically the risk of progressive cartilage damage in the setting of repeat patella dislocation events. We’re going to review an article from the August 2024 issue of AJSM titled: “The Number of Patellar Dislocation Events Is Associated With Increased Chondral Damage of the Trochlea.”

Today’s Ask The Sports Docs focuses on a question that we get asked a lot on the sideline, in locker rooms and by parents of our young contact sport athletes: Do you recommend the use of Guardian Caps to decrease the risk of concussion? If you have watched NFL training camp over the last few years, you’ve seen them – Those padded shells over the helmets. They’re everywhere now in preseason practices. But are they actually preventing concussions? Or are we just seeing a visible symbol of safety without meaningful impact? 

Today, we’re diving into a paper that reviews the long-term outcomes following arthroscopic Bankart repair and challenges some of the historical narratives around this procedure.

The study that we are reviewing today is titled “Long-term Outcomes of a Contemporary Arthroscopic Bankart Repair Technique in Patients With Traumatic Anterior Shoulder Instability: A Minimum 10-Year Follow-up.”

Today we’re talking about pickleball – the fastest growing sport in the United States. From 2019- 2021, the number of pickleball players increased from 3.3 to 4.8 million. The reason for the growth of the sport is likely multifactorial, including that it encompasses a wide variety of age ranges, it is easy to understand and it is inexpensive to play. However, with this steady growth has come a corresponding linear rise in pickleball injuries. And these injuries are not inexpensive, costing between 250 to 500 million dollars in 2023 alone.

Our patients, and their families, frequently ask… how long can I wait to have the surgery? To answer that question, we’re going to review an article, hot off the press in this month’s issue of AJSM titled “Early ACL Reconstruction Mitigates the Development of Posttraumatic Osteoarthritis in a Murine ACL Rupture Model.” Dr. Julia Retzky and colleagues at HSS sought to answer the question: Does the timing of ACL reconstruction actually matter for long-term joint health?

Today we’re tackling a topic that’s coming up more and more in clinic, locker rooms, and social media—injectable peptide therapy. Specifically, we’re going to walk through a recent AJSM narrative review by Mayfield and colleagues that serves as a primer for orthopaedic and sports medicine physicians.

Today, we’re talking about one of the hottest topics in sports medicine — platelet rich plasma for lateral epicondylitis. If you’ve ever wondered why PRP seems to work great for some patients… and not at all for others — this paper gives us a compelling answer.

Today’s episode is going to focus on two common athletic shoulder injuries that we see in American football – traumatic anterior shoulder dislocations and acromioclavicular joint injuries. We’ll dive into the acute on-field management followed by treatment thereafter, including nonoperative and surgical treatment options. 

Our conversation picks back up with an article titled “Mental toughness in surgeons: Is there room for improvement?” This paper was published in the December 2019 issue of the Canadian Journal of Surgery and evaluates mental toughness among general surgery residents and staff surgeons using the Mental Toughness Index. The authors found that staff surgeons score significantly higher across all domains—including self-belief, attention and emotion regulation, optimism, buoyancy, and adversity capacity—than residents. 

On today’s episode we’re focusing on mindset skills, emotional regulation and mental toughness and feel that orthopedic surgery with Dr. Winston Gwathmey, an orthopedic surgeon at UVA. 

We start off our discussion today with an article from the September 2022 issue of the Journal of Surgical Research titled “Emotional Regulation in Surgery: Fostering Well-Being, Performance, and Leadership.” This article reviews the critical role of emotional regulation as a trainable cognitive skill that enhances surgical well-being, technical performance, and career longevity.

This year also brought a milestone we’re incredibly proud of: The Sports Docs Podcast has been nominated for Best Clinical Education Podcast at the Doctor Podcast Awards 2026. That recognition reflects the quality of the conversations we’ve had—and the incredible guests and community that make this podcast what it is.

Today, we’re breaking down a new study looking at the Hip–Return to Sport after Injury score, or Hip-RSI, and whether it can help us evaluate psychological readiness to return to sport after surgical repair of a proximal hamstring avulsion. This study is hot off the press and was published in the November 2025 issue of OJSM, so this month! It was performed by Hardy and colleagues at Clinique du in Paris and is titled “The Hip-RSI Score for Evaluating Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport After Surgical Repair of a Proximal Hamstring Avulsion.” 

Today we’re breaking down a common but sometimes career-altering knee injury in professional football – the meniscus tear. We’ll cover how often these happen in the NFL, how players present, what treatment choices look like, timelines for returning to play, and critically – how meniscal injury affects performance and career length.