By Taylor Smith

Princeton Orthopaedic Associates’ flagship office is located at 325 Princeton Avenue. The 25,000-square-foot space houses 17 orthopaedic surgeons and five physiatrists (physical medicine physicians), along with three podiatrists who handle comprehensive foot and ankle care for all patients. In addition to the Princeton Avenue location, Princeton Orthopaedic maintains four additional offices at 727 State Road in Princeton; 11 Centre Drive in Monroe; 340 Scotch Road in Ewing; and 5 Plainsboro Road, Suite 490 in Plainsboro. These offices serve greater Mercer County, Middlesex County, and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

All of the Princeton Orthopaedic offices are outfitted with the most sophisticated digital X-ray, physical therapy, and MRI machines to treat a host of musculoskeletal disorders (the Monroe facility also offers aqua therapy). To better meet the needs of patients, all of the office locations are fully integrated and use the same medical record system. The orthopaedic surgeons work in cooperation with University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro and Capital Health System hospitals. Areas of specialty include shoulder, neck and back, elbow, forearm, wrist and hand, hip, knee, foot and ankle, and total joints. They also perform EMG/NCS (electromyography and nerve conduction study), epidural injections, and orthopedic trauma.

Orthopaedic surgeon Brian Culp specializes in hip and knee replacement and adult reconstruction. “Many of our patients come to us from referrals from either emergency room or primary care physicians,” said Dr. Culp. “My patients typically come in complaining of pain in either their hips or knees. This pain can be compounded with stiffness or the inability to move, as well as crunching or grinding. I find that the biggest complaint I hear is that these symptoms radically interfere with a patient’s quality of life.”

Dr. Jon W. Ark specializes in orthopaedic hand surgery and musculoskeletal foot and ankle problems. “The most common complaints I see are regarding arthritis of the hand and carpal tunnel syndrome,” he said. For those who do not know, Carpal Tunnel syndrome is pressure on a nerve on the wrist, which can lead to thinning of the nerve capsule if left untreated for a long time. This disease causes numbness, tingling, and pain in the hand and fingers. Over time, the nerves start getting damaged when left untreated. Needless to say, this can also lead to disability, before eventually transforming into a life-threatening disease. That is why surgeons often advise such patients to get operated on. Using their Nerve Surgery Devices, healthcare professionals could cure the problem and eradicate it once and for all.

But how does one recognize the symptoms? Are they only limited to tingling or numbness? Perhaps not!, Many patients also complain about bunions. “I receive the bulk of my patients who experience this from outside referring medical doctors, physical therapists, and hand therapists.”

When asked to describe a typical patient, Dr. Frederick Song says, “With the popularity of organized and recreational sports, I see patients of all ages. Whether the patient is playing youth soccer, a collegiate athlete, or a weekend warrior, our goal is to resolve pain and restore function.” Dr. Song’s area of expertise is sports medicine with a focus on knee and shoulder injuries, as well as shoulder replacement surgery.

In terms of sports-related injuries, the most common injuries Dr. Song sees are “anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears and meniscus tears in the knee as well as rotator cuff injuries and labral tears in the shoulder,” he said. “These all tend to be more acute type injuries although rotator cuff tears can also be chronic and progressive.”

A medical professional may suggest all types of treatment for sports injury, including conventional therapies, muscle relaxants, and pain relief meds. In case of nerve damage or injury, they might even propose vagus nerve stimulation at home (or other stimulators) that uses micro-electrical pulses to relax the muscles and reduce pain.

As for pain relief, medications and physiotherapy could be great options that a doctor might suggest depending on the type of injury and treatment. Alternatively, there can be other methods as well that can help a person to physically and mentally relax, which can have a direct impact on the severity of the pain. For instance, people can opt for alternative medications such as cannabis, marijuana, and THC products (check out https://skyhighmeds.com/lake-arrowhead-menu and similar sites for product details) to manage chronic pain since these products can have medicinal properties.

Princeton Orthopaedic Associates has five practicing sports medicine specialists. With the addition of Dr. William in Rossy in 2016 and his fellowship training in hip arthroscopy and knee cartilage restoration, the group is able to offer patients a gamut of sports medicine procedures.

Many of the physicians at Princeton Orthopaedics have won numerous accolades including Dr. Jeffrey S. Abrams, who was elected as president of the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA). Dr. Abrams is among the first surgeons to perform rotator cuff repairs and stabilization surgery arthroscopically.

Also of note, Dr. David Lamb of Princeton Orthopaedics was appointed chief of orthopaedic surgery at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. Dr. Lamb has been an attending physician in spine surgery at Princeton since 1997. He is taking over for another Princeton Orthopaedic physician, Dr. W. Thomas Gutowski, who served as chief of orthopaedic surgery since 2001. Dr. Lamb commonly performs surgeries of the cervical and lumbar spine.

Dr. Rony Nazarian has perfected the art of spine surgery with a particular interest in minimally invasive spine surgery (MIS). Dr. Nazarian said, “we can now offer MIS candidates a significantly quicker recovery with less pain. Many of our surgeries can now be done as an outpatient, so that the patient can recover at home.”

At Princeton Orthopaedic Associates, physicians focus not only on the injuries themselves, but on the prevention of musculoskeletal injuries through physical therapy, exercise therapy, and more. They also have an orthopaedic surgeon on-call 24/7 in addition to urgent care services at their 325 Princeton Avenue office every Saturday morning from 8 to 11am. The Monroe office offers urgent care services Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings from 5 to 8pm and Saturday from 8 to 11am.

To schedule a formal appointment, call 609.924.8131 or visit www.princetonorthopaedic.com.