ViewMedica Orthopedic Video Library - Dr. Joshua Alpert, Board-Certified Orthopedic Surgeon

Learn more about orthopedic procedures

Dr. Alpert believes strongly in empowering his patients to have as much information as they’re comfortable with about their health. It’s also very important to him that the information that patients count on is accurate, up to date, and easy to understand. With that in mind, we have partnered with ViewMedica to offer a library of videos and printed materials we hope will be helpful to patients.

We encourage patients to bring any questions they may have to their next appointment, where Dr. Alpert will be happy to discuss those in person.

Please do not email us any confidential medical information, as privacy cannot be guaranteed.

Our shoulders are the most movable joints in the body. They give our arms great range of motion. They allow us to lift and control heavy loads. Shoulder pain is a problem many of us feel at some time in our lives. Let’s learn about shoulder pain, and what you can do about it.

The anterior cruciate ligament, commonly called the ACL, is a thick, elastic band of tissue that runs from the bottom of the femur to the top of the tibia. It helps stabilize the knee joint. The ACL can become stretched or torn when the knee is twisted or hyperextended. For reasons that are not fully understood, ACL injuries are much more common in women than in men.

The rotator cuff muscles and tendons hold your upper arm bone in your shoulder socket. A hard fall, repetitive arm motions or problems with the structure of your shoulder can injure the rotator cuff.

The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons in each shoulder. It holds your upper arm bone in your shoulder socket. It keeps your arm stable while allowing it to lift and rotate. Too much stress on the rotator cuff can cause a tear. This can be a painful injury.

This surgery fixes damage in your knee. It replaces only the damaged parts of your joint, leaving the healthy areas intact. It lets your knee move naturally again.

The meniscus is a cushion of cartilage. There are two in each knee. If one of these shock absorbers is worn out or hurt, you may need a partial meniscectomy to remove the damaged areas.

This is an injection of medicine into the knee joint. It lubricates your knee so the bones can glide smoothly. It can help lessen the pain of arthritis.

This is a common injury of the knee. Your knee joint is cushioned by two c-shaped wedges of cartilage called the “menisci.” Each individual cushion is called a “meniscus.” This injury is a tear of one of these cushions.

Ligaments are fibrous, elastic bands of tissue that connect and stabilize the bones. An ankle sprain is a common, painful injury that occurs when one or more of the ankle ligaments is stretched beyond the normal range of motion. Sprains can occur as a result of sudden twisting, turning or rolling movements.

Knee pain may keep you from being as active as you like. And it may come from a gradual breakdown of your knee’s cartilage. That’s a protective tissue on the ends of your bones. In a healthy knee, the bones glide smoothly against each other. But in a knee with osteoarthritis, cartilage begins to wear away. Bone rubs against bone. Bony bumps we call “bone spurs” may form.

If you have a painful shoulder, you may have a torn labrum. That’s a tear of the thick band of tissue around your shoulder socket. A torn labrum can be fixed with a procedure called a “Bankart repair.”

This surgery repairs a biceps tendon in your shoulder. It fixes a tendon that is partially torn, or completely torn, from the bone.

You’ve broken a bone, and for the next several weeks you’ll be wearing a cast. Let’s take a moment to learn how to care for it.

Many of us have broken a bone at some time in our lives. A broken bone can be frightening and painful. But with time (and proper care), your body will heal even a bad fracture. Have you ever wondered how that process works? Let’s take a moment to learn more.

The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint. The ball of your upper arm bone fits into a socket in your shoulder blade. If the ball slips out, your shoulder has “dislocated.”

This is an injury of the acromioclavicular joint (commonly called the “AC” joint). This is the joint where the clavicle meets the scapula. A shoulder separation is a stretching or a tearing of the ligaments that support these bones. This allows the bones to move out of position.

This is a problem with a tendon in your elbow. It’s called the “distal biceps tendon.” It connects the biceps muscle of your upper arm to the radius bone at the elbow. With this condition, the tendon becomes painfully inflamed or irritated.

If you are an athlete, or if you work with your arms and hands, your elbows may be at risk for an overuse injury. This is an injury caused by repetitive motions. This type of injury can be a problem for people who play sports such as tennis or baseball. Children also have a higher risk, because their bones are still growing.

This is a problem on the outer side of your thigh. It’s an inflammation of the iliotibial band. That’s a thick band of tissue that spans from your hip to your shinbone. When this band becomes inflamed, it can hurt.

A peripheral nerve block is a type of regional anesthesia. It can completely block sensation in an arm, leg or other area for surgery. A peripheral nerve block doesn’t put you to sleep. However, a nerve block can be combined with sedation or general anesthesia during surgery.

This bulge, also called a “popliteal cyst,” forms behind the knee. It’s a swollen bursa. A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that helps reduce friction between soft tissues and bones. There are several of these sacs in the knee and in other joints. A swollen bursa can be uncomfortable, or even painful.

Each of your knee joints is cushioned by two c-shaped wedges of cartilage. The two cushions in each knee are called the “menisci.” Individually, each cushion is called a “meniscus.” Certain motions, such as twisting the knee, can cause a meniscus to tear. In many cases, a torn meniscus can be treated with arthroscopic surgery.

This condition is a tear of the tendon that connects the patella to the quadriceps muscles of the thigh. The quadriceps muscle is used to straighten the leg from the bent position. A complete rupture of the quadriceps tendon is a disabling injury.

This is pain you feel in the front of one or both of your lower legs. It can be a problem for runners, dancers, gymnasts and other active people.

This outpatient injection procedure relieves pain in the shoulder and arm caused by arthritis, injury or disorder.

During this procedure, the surgeon replaces a damaged shoulder joint with artificial components that reverse the structure of the shoulder. This procedure is most often used for patients who have had a failed total shoulder replacement. It is also helpful for patients who have had a complete tear of the rotator cuff, especially those whose injuries have led to an arthritic condition called cuff tear arthropathy.

This surgery repairs a tear of the rotator cuff in your shoulder. The rotator cuff is group of muscles and tendons. It holds the head of the humerus in the shoulder socket.

This surgery treats an injury in your shoulder. It repairs a tear of the labrum. That’s a ring of cartilage around the shoulder socket. The injury happens where the biceps tendon meets the labrum. We call this injury a “SLAP” tear.

This surgery fixes a damaged or diseased shoulder joint. The bad parts will be taken out and replaced with artificial parts. The new parts let your shoulder move smoothly.

This is a swelling of a fluid-filled sac called the “subacromial bursa.” It’s in the shoulder, between a bony protrusion called the “acromion” and the rotator cuff. You have similar sacs near other large joints throughout your body. They act as cushions between your bones and your soft tissue. Normally they have a small amount of fluid inside them. But sometimes they can swell. We call that “bursitis.”