Bone Doctor

You feel a sharp pull at the front of your hip mid-sprint. What do you do first?

That sharp pull at the front of your hip during a sprint or a kick? It could be a hip flexor strain. Most heal in 1-6 weeks without surgery, but the number one mistake is returning to full speed as soon as the pain fades. The muscle handles easy movement long before it can handle explosive load, and that gap is where re-injuries happen.

Full article covers symptoms, the three grades, and a smart return plan: corycalendinemd.com/blog/hip-flexor-strain-symptom…

What injury took you longest to come back from?

14 hours ago | [YT] | 3

Bone Doctor

Hamstring Injury: Symptoms, Causes, and Proven Treatment Options

Pull a hamstring and the bruise shows up three days later, below your knee. That's normal. Here's what isn't: a loud pop near the sitting bone, or a leg that won't hold your weight.

Nearly 1 in 3 hamstring injuries happen again, usually because someone got back to sport before the muscle was ready.

New article covers symptoms, healing timelines by grade, and the rehab that actually prevents reinjury: corycalendinemd.com/blog/hamstring-injury-symptoms…

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What activity got your hamstring: sprinting, a sudden stretch, or something you didn't see coming?

23 hours ago | [YT] | 12

Bone Doctor

What Happens to Your Ligaments During a Knee Replacement?

Did you know the ACL is removed in every modern total knee replacement? For many patients that sounds alarming, because we treat an ACL tear in a young athlete as a serious injury. After a knee replacement, the situation is different: the implant surfaces are designed to provide some of the stability the ACL used to provide, and patients function at a very high level without it.

In my newest video, I walk through what happens to each of the four major knee ligaments during knee replacement: why the ACL always comes out, how your surgeon decides whether to keep or substitute the PCL, and why the collateral ligaments are never removed and matter more to your result than most people realize.

If you are considering knee replacement in the Franklin or Nashville area, our team at the Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee is happy to help you understand your options.

Watch: https://youtu.be/o2WFOxAVTVI

2 days ago | [YT] | 45

Bone Doctor

Your MRI Says You Have a Tear. Do You Need Surgery?

You probably read your MRI report before anyone explained it. Almost 69% of patients now do.

Here is the part that rarely gets said out loud: a finding can be completely true and still not be the cause of your pain. In one study, 61 percent of people with a meniscus tear on MRI had no knee pain in the previous month.

New video breaks down the seven terms patients ask me about most, and why I often want a standing X-ray more than a scan.

Full video: https://youtu.be/kIwHRZ8LF88

Related article: corycalendinemd.com/blog/knee-mri-report-explained…

What word in your MRI report scared you the most?

6 days ago | [YT] | 62

Bone Doctor

When Can You Sleep on Your Side After Hip Replacement?

"When can I sleep on my side?" is one of the first questions hip replacement patients ask, and most ask it before surgery. The answer is not week six. After an anterior approach, it is whenever it is comfortable.

I also cover the four mistakes that have nothing to do with your hip at all: retired precautions nobody actually prescribed, forcing a position before the incision is ready, expecting sleep to be free, and treating pain medicine as a sleeping pill.

Watch here: https://youtu.be/cYd4xsstdB0

Full write-up: corycalendinemd.com/blog/sleep-after-hip-replaceme…

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1 week ago | [YT] | 39

Bone Doctor

Staples vs. Glue: How Your Joint Replacement Incision Is Actually Closed

Two patients. Same joint replacement, same week. One got surgical glue. One got staples.

Staples do not mean you got a worse surgery. They mean your surgeon made a judgment call about your skin.

How your incision is actually closed: https://youtu.be/fyZa38c3v9A

What did yours look like?

1 week ago | [YT] | 27

Bone Doctor

Staples vs. Glue: How Your Joint Replacement Incision Is Actually Closed

Two patients. Same joint replacement, same week. One got surgical glue. One got staples.

Staples do not mean you got a worse surgery. They mean your surgeon made a judgment call about your skin.

How your incision is actually closed: https://youtu.be/fyZa38c3v9A

What did yours look like?

1 week ago | [YT] | 31

Bone Doctor

Can you kneel after a knee replacement? Half the people I ask say they can't. Almost every one of them means "it's tender." That tenderness is real, but it's the skin nerves complaining, not the implant. The metal and plastic don't care if you kneel on them.

The new video covers the two promises I make every patient (when you're allowed to start, and that you will not damage the parts) and the desensitization progression: soft and short first, firmer and longer over time. Even five or ten years out, it's not too late.

Watch: https://youtu.be/bNAGK1EyX20

If you've had a knee replacement, tell me below: can you kneel? And if you know someone who says she can't, send her this one.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 37

Bone Doctor

"Do I still need antibiotics before my dental cleaning?" I get this question more than almost any other after a hip or knee replacement.

For most patients, the answer is now no. The 2024 AAOS and AAHKS guideline reviewed studies covering hundreds of thousands of joint replacement patients and found no link between dental procedures and joint infection. The American Dental Association reviewed the same evidence and agreed in 2026. Simple toothbrushing puts bacteria in the bloodstream in about 23% of people, which is far more exposure over a year than two cleanings.

A prior joint infection or significant immune suppression still warrants a conversation with your surgeon.

Full article: corycalendinemd.com/blog/antibiotics-before-dental…
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Were you told you would need to premedicate for life?

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 26

Bone Doctor

Her knee pain was severe. Her knee exam was normal. The answer was one joint up.

Severe hip arthritis can send its pain to the knee — some people feel a bad hip only in the knee. In this week's video I share the story of a 72-year-old whose "knee" pain disappeared for a week after a single diagnostic hip injection, and for good after a hip replacement. Ten years later: no hip pain, no knee pain.

Video >> youtube.com/shorts/WgZG85XqAV...

Where do you feel your arthritis pain? Tell me below — and the full breakdown of who should (and should not) get a knee replacement yet is here: corycalendinemd.com/blog/who-should-not-get-a-knee…

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 34