Hi, my name is Dr. David Moore, and I’m an orthopedic surgeon here at Elite Sports Medicine + Orthopedics. I’ve been with Elite since 2004, following a sports medicine fellowship in Birmingham with Dr. James Andrews.
What Is Your Orthopedic Specialty?
Within orthopedics there are a number of specialties. I subspecialize in sports medicine, focusing predominantly on arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder, knee, and elbow.
Tell Us About Your Background
I grew up a long ways from Nashville in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I played just about every sport under the sun and was hurt a lot. I think I knew from an early age that I probably wanted to be an orthopedic doctor. One of my parents’ favorite things from my childhood was a fifth grade essay I wrote talking about how I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up.
As I continued playing sports and was frequently hurt, we had a family friend who was an orthopedic surgeon. He took me under his wing and allowed me to sit in on his clinic. While I was in college, he set me up with a scholarship in Columbus, Georgia at a place called the Hughston Clinic.
At the Hughston Clinic, I had the chance to spend time with Jack Hughston, who is considered one of the founders of sports medicine. I knew I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon at that point.
What Does It Mean to Be a Subspecialized Orthopedic Surgeon?
Within orthopedics, there are eight subspecialties. We all do four years of medical school and then five years of an orthopedic residency where we rotate among the eight subspecialties. Following your residency, you can spend an additional year in what’s called a fellowship. During a fellowship, you focus solely on a single subspecialty. I did a sports medicine fellowship with Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham. While I was there, I learned all kinds of highly skillful arthroscopic knee, shoulder, and elbow surgeries.
What Types of Patients Do You See?
I take care of patients of all ages and all walks of life that have issues with shoulder pain, knee pain, and elbow pain. Many of my patients prefer less invasive procedures, which I am able to offer through arthroscopic surgery. About 95% of my procedures are actually done arthroscopically.
A big part of our practice is taking care of injured athletes. Having played collegiate soccer myself, that experience has certainly helped me take care of athletes at all levels. We see kids who are as young as grade school all the way up to adults playing amateur and professional sports. I do believe that having my own injuries along the way has helped me relate to the athletes for whom I provide care.
What Injuries and Conditions Do You Treat?
At Elite, we are known for taking care of a wide range of injuries and conditions. Some of the procedures I do are ACL reconstructions, rotator cuff repairs, and UCL reconstructions. There’s a lot more that I treat beyond that, but these are pretty common in sports medicine.
Do You Have a Favorite Patient Success Story?
I did take care of a gentleman who was a high-level tennis player. He came to see me when he was 47 and he had a bad articular cartilage injury to his knee.
We performed a procedure called an autologous chondrocyte implantation – also known as a CARTICEL procedure – where we took cartilage from his knee, sent it to a lab, and they grew the cells, turning thousands of cells into many millions of cells. This allowed us to come back later and do a cartilage transplant.
Following the transplant, this patient and his tennis partner went on to win the doubles U-50s US Championship.
He unfortunately later injured his knee in a different spot which required a second cartilage transplant. He rehabbed like crazy and ended up coming back to win both the US and World 55 Age Division Championships.
What Do You Love About Being an Orthopedic Doctor?
Probably the most rewarding aspect of being an orthopedic specialist is seeing patients that are vulnerable after a recent injury, wondering if they will return to what they love doing, and seeing them progress from treatment back to what they love.
Dr. David Moore is a several-time Castle Connolly Top Doctor Award winner and considered one of the best orthopedic surgeons in Nashville, TN and Franklin, TN having extensive experience treating knee pain, shoulder pain, and elbow pain. You can schedule appointment with him or one of our other orthopedic doctors in Nashville, TN and Franklin, TN.
Author: AMWN Dev
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