-
Oct 26, 2007 2:00 pm US/Central
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Dr. James Andrews Is Surgeon To The (Sports) Stars
Andrews, 66, Built Career Operating On Pro Athletes
GULF BREEZE, Fla. (AP) ―
He's almost as famous as the superstars he operates on.
When the likes of Roger Clemens, Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, Jack Nicklaus, Dwyane Wade and Drew Brees needed surgery to repair worn out elbows, shoulders and knees, they went to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.
Andrews recently opened the Andrews Institute for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Gulf Breeze to be near the gleaming white sands and turquoise waves of Pensacola Beach.
But the 66-year-old, who had a heart attack last year, isn't interested in retiring to the beach - his passion for the operating room remains.
He's perhaps best known as the surgeon Major League Baseball turns to when pitchers blow out their ulnar collateral ligament, which stabilizes the elbow.
When the Cleveland Indians' Paul Byrd needed his elbow repaired in 2003, Andrews was the only surgeon he considered for the job.
"He's kind of like the E.F. Hutton of doctors. When he speaks, people listen," said Byrd, who recently made headlines for acknowledging he used human growth hormone for a medical condition.
What Andrews says, "You kind of take it to the bank," said Byrd, who had Tommy John surgery in 2003.
Andrews is considered the master of Tommy John surgery, the procedure named for the pitcher Dr. Frank Jobe first performed it on in 1974. In the surgery, a tendon from the forearm or leg is used to replace the damaged ligament.
"Jim is a pioneer in the field. He's a leader. He has a well-deserved and tremendous reputation," said Dr. David Altcheck, medical director for the New York Mets and the attending orthopedic surgeon at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery.
Altcheck said what separates Andrews from other doctors is an ability to connect with his patients.
"There are a lot of excellent surgeons in the world, but only a few who understand what it means for an athlete to get back into their sport," he said.
That could be because Andrews was an athlete himself, pole vaulting at LSU and later sailing in the America's Cup.
Andrews performs surgery at his Florida center once a week - "Circus Fridays" his staff calls them - because of the chaos of his multiple operating rooms and the constant communication with the athletes and their families, teams and agents.
Andrews manages his circus with the finesse of a veteran ringmaster.
On one recent Friday, he was running between patients in eight operating rooms. Three held New York Yankees minor league pitchers awaiting arm surgery. As he zipped back and forth, he stopped for a few minutes to field a phone call from the Philadelphia Eagles.
"Tell management this was a season-ending situation," he said, leaving one of the operating rooms and entering the observation lounge - a hallway-like area outside four operating rooms. Viewing windows allow an athlete's entourage to watch Andrews do what he does best - drill holes through the joints and sew the torn ligaments of athletes who often make millions of dollars on the playing field.
Before ending his call with the Eagles, Andrews asks - "How's McNabb doing?"
That's five-time Pro Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb, who has recovered after a torn knee ligament, which Andrews repaired last year.
Andrews also put Brees' shoulder back together before the New Orleans Saints quarterback led his team to the playoffs last season.
Andrews says part of the fun of watching sports is seeing athletes he's operated on succeed. He recalled watching a preseason game between the Saints and the Chiefs in which both quarterbacks, Brees and Kansas City's Brodie Croyle, were patients.
"I was pulling for one when he was on offense and the other when he was on offense," Andrews said.
Andrews has only been nervous once - when he performed knee surgery on Nicklaus. The golfing icon was one of his first superstar patients.
"I was sitting there fixing to do it, fixing to put a scope in, and I said to myself, 'Gosh this is Jack Nicklaus - have I got the right knee?"' he laughed.
The Homer, La., native was a Southeastern Conference indoor and outdoor pole vault champion at LSU. He graduated from LSU's medical school in 1967 and created a niche for himself in sports medicine before it was a specialty, building a reputation for Southern friendliness and a willingness to go above and beyond for his patients.
He became the go-to doctor for the Auburn and the University of Alabama programs. Word spread, and Andrews' name grew.
"The kind of loyalty he has bred among those coaches is unbelievable. It's just the type of mentality a lot of those guys have out there. They only trust Andrews to fix their athletes," said Chad Gilliland, an administrator at Andrew's Florida institute, and the son of a former Alabama high school football coach.
But the decades of performing surgery on healthy young athletes has shifted Andrews' focus from fixing athletic injuries to preventing them, especially among the young.
He pushed for a pitch-count limit in Little League.
"Sports are more intense now. Kids are throwing harder, and they are growing up faster. They are 6 foot, 2 inches and 210 pounds when they are 15 years of age. Baseball is a developmental sport; their bodies have to be developed. In this case, the development of the Tommy John ligament doesn't keep up with their body development," he said.
And he says the increasing number of serious childhood sports injuries isn't limited to baseball. He is pushing parents and coaches to give young athletes time for their bodies to recuperate.
"Young female softball players are tearing their shoulders up right and left," he said. "In the soccer kids we see the knee injuries. The quantity and the severity of all of these injuries are increasing."
Whether a promising high school pitcher or a famous NFL quarterback, Andrews understands that unique passion that carries some athletes to greatness.
Not every surgery has a happy ending.
"That's the most difficult thing for everybody," he said. "But you cannot tell that right away, you have to let them down slowly. You have to say in the sports world that the glass is half full and not half empty."
Just like the underdog team that pulls of the amazing upset, there are those rare cases of an unprecedented comeback from seemingly career-ending injuries.
Andrews points to Brees.
"He had a terrible shoulder injury, and we thought that maybe his career was in jeopardy - we never said that to him, but believe me it was thought."
And then Andrews heads into another operating room, the ringmaster of Circus Friday has another patient to fix.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)