Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Health care:

Sports medicine docs enjoy strong demand

Sports medicine

Steve Marcus

Dr. Randall Lee, an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon, examines Vince Bratton during a follow-up visit June 17 at Advanced Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, 8420 W. Warm Springs Road. Bratton said he injured his knee during a game of flag football.

Las Vegas doctors who specialize in sports medicine say there is “plenty of work to go around,” and are welcoming any competition.

Advanced Orthopedics & Sports Medicine doctors see more than 150 patients a week each, not because there is an influx of patients injured while playing sports, but because there aren’t enough specialists to treat them.

Dr. Randy Yee said that when he and his wife decided to move to Las Vegas from rural Indiana and his general practice, he came knowing there wasn’t a lot of emphasis on sports medicine.

“There are a lot of sports in town, but not a lot of (medical) coverage,” he said. “That was our goal, to come out here and take care of a lot of the athletes, the weekend warriors, and/or the professional athletes.”

Yee’s specialties are knees and shoulders, but he said he will see other injuries if necessary. Other doctors treat other injuries, such as Dr. Thomman Kuruvilla, who specializes in foot and ankle.

Kuruvilla decided to move from Manhattan to Las Vegas because he thought he could become established in his specialty faster in an area not oversaturated in orthopedic doctors, he said.

“Only about five guys in Vegas that do what I do, so it was ideal — perfect,” Kuruvilla said, adding that he sees 50 patients a day. “We probably need another 10 in foot-and-ankle, and it still wouldn’t be saturated in my opinion.”

There is such a need for sport medicine and physicians, any competition doesn’t concern him, Yee said.

“This is a great and ideal situation for us,” he said. “There are more sports medicine docs coming to town. I think its great, and it elevates the level of care.

“I think we achieved that,” Yee said. “The reason we chose this market is that it wasn’t saturated, and made it easy for us to establish ourselves.”

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