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Meet Dr. Brian Houng, Our First Foot And Ankle Surgery Fellow

Dr. Brian Houng, our first foot and ankle surgery fellow, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His love for fitness, basketball, and interest in sports medicine led him to major in human biology at the University of California San Diego. He then completed his medical school education in Chicago, Illinois, where he graduated at the top of his class. Dr. Houng then completed a comprehensive surgical residency training program at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, a nationally recognized level-1 trauma center. During his final year of residency, he served as Chief Resident for his program under the directorship of Dr. Christopher Hyer. a nationally known fellowship-trained foot and ankle surgeon. On his free time, Dr. Houng enjoys working out, playing basketball, and eating good food with good company. What is a fellowship? A Fellowship is the period of medical training that a physician may undertake after completing a specialty training program (residency). A fellowship usually lasts at least one year and during this time, the physician is known as a fellow. Fellows can act as an attending or consulting physician in the field in which they were trained. The purpose of a fellowship is to specialize and [...]

An Improved Approach to Tendonitis Treatment: Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections

Platelet-rich-plasma (PRP) injections have been making headway in medicine for the last decade due to their effective treatment of common tendonitis pain. While PRP injections are most often used to heal the chronically inflamed tendons of your ankle, knee, and elbow, they have also been used to treat fractures, tears, and arthritis as well. The procedure is most popular among active individuals and is often utilized by professional athletes, such as Tiger Woods and Rafael Nadal to name a few. We all know the road to recovery from a chronic overuse injury can often be an irritating one, and while this treatment may be a solution to your problem, let’s first go over what this procedure is as well as the pros and cons. The Procedure: Platelet-rich plasma injections are injections of, you guessed it, platelets directly into the injured area. To do this, the nurse first draws your blood. After a quick process to separate the blood into its components, the doctor then takes the platelet portion and injects the platelets directly into the area of interest. Why platelets? While platelets are commonly known for their blood clotting effects, platelets also contain a high concentration of growth factors that help speed [...]

2020-12-28T19:11:39-08:00Orthopedic News|

What You Need to Know About Osteoporosis

If you are 1 in 2 women or 1 in 4 men over the age of 50, your life is affected by osteoporosis. But what really is osteoporosis, and what effects might it have on your life? Osteoporosis literally means “porous bone” It is typically the result of poor bone formation and or excessive bone loss, which eventually leads to a decrease in bone density. Factors that affect your bone density include age, hormone levels, activity status, and diet. However age tends to be the overarching culprit for the changes, as the other three factors often change along with age. For example, sex hormones decrease in both females and males as we age. For females, menopause greatly decreases estrogen output, and for males, testosterone begins a gradual downward slope beginning around age 30. Bone density is negatively impacted as both of these hormones decrease. Yet, although everyone does experience a decrease in their sex hormones over time, other factors such as activity status and diet can help offset those effects. Physical activity and forms of exercise are well known methods to maintain or improve bone density as you age. Wolff’s Law, developed in the 19th century by Julius Wolff, explains this idea perfectly, [...]

2019-06-18T16:38:31-07:00Orthopedic News|

The Meaning of Our Tree

Andry Tree The Meaning of The Tree We often get asked by patients to explain the significance of the tree that we have in our lobby.  Some of you have noticed that there is a rope tied around the trunk to a straight stake.  Have you ever wondered why that is?  And how it is related to Orthopedics?  It turns out that a bent tree braced to a stake to make it grow upward and straight has been the traditional symbol of orthopedics for hundreds of years.  You will find the the tree symbol in our logo on our business cards and in our letterhead. Nicolas Andry The word "orthopedics" comes from the words for straight ("orthos" and child ("-paideia").  It was coined by the French scientist, Nicolas Andry in his 1741 book "Orthopedie" and concerned itself with prevention and correction of deformities of the spine and bones of children.  He used the image of the sapling strapped to a stake to illustrate his ideas. Those who work in the cast room will tell you the value of splinting to hold a fractured bone straight to prevent deformity. From time to time you may see x-rays that [...]

2023-07-31T10:58:34-07:00News, Orthopedic News|
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