(BARRINGTON, IL) As a hockey team’s defenseman, Jake Hamilton is no stranger to bumps and bruises. For a rough and tumble kid like Jake to show up in orthopedic sports medicine specialist Justin Gent, MD’s office wasn’t exactly surprising, either.

“Jake took a shot to his knee when he was checked into the boards,” said Dr. Gent. “When a boy has pain that keeps him from playing sports, it ought to be checked out.” An MRI at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital indicated a badly strained medial collateral ligament, but no tearing. “I got him into a supportive brace and started him on treatment, and he’s been good ever since,” said Gent.

Then it was Jake’s dad’s turn to pay Dr. Gent office at McHenry County Orthopedics a visit. “A matter of weeks or a month later, I look up to see Jake’s dad, Brad Hamilton in our waiting area. He’s in the trades, and now we come to find out he’s torn his meniscus – the cartilage that cushions your bones in the knee joint,” explained Dr. Gent. With a minimally-invasive arthroscopic surgery, Gent removed the torn cartilage and got the elder Hamilton back to work in no time.

“Next thing I know, I see Jake’s mom at our practice. It turns out the Hamiltons are weekend warriors,” he joked. Gina Hamilton had twisted her knee during an intensive exercise boot camp with a trainer. Another trip to Good Shepherd and another MRI showed Mrs. Hamilton had badly strained her anterior cruciate ligament, the largest of all in the knee. Dr. Gent fit her for a brace and established another home exercise program, and she’s now back to all activities.

It goes to show though, as Dr. Gent points out, that today’s families – with their exercise and sports regimen or demands of their jobs are tough on their knees. Justin Gent, MD, offers advice and education about knee injury prevention and how to recognize the difference between injury and simple soreness.

He’s asked the question: “Are some families predisposed genetically to being more prone to joint injury? Not necessarily, says Dr. Gent. “More to the point, what are you doing that puts stress and strain on your knee joints, and are you carrying too much weight or placing unrealistic demands from activities on your joints?”

Justin Gent, MD is a sports medicine surgeon with McHenry County Orthopaedics and is a member of the medical staff at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Illinois.
 

About Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
Good Shepherd in Barrington, Illinois is a 183-bed medical care facility with more than 700 physicians representing 50 medical specialties. It is part of Advocate Health Care, a faith-based organization that exists to serve its communities. Advocate Health Care is one of the Top Ten integrated healthcare system in the United States (Thomson-Reuters) and its children’s hospitals – Hope Children’s at Christ Medical Center and Lutheran General Children’s Hospital – care for more Chicago children than any other Illinois hospital or system. Last year, Advocate Health Care, provided more than $377,000,000 in community benefits.
For more about Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital: www.advocatehealth.com/goodshep

About McHenry County Orthopaedics, SC
Since 1994, McHenry County Orthopaedics (MCO) has provided Crystal Lake, Huntley and the surrounding communities with the latest advances in the field of orthopaedic medicine. The physicians of MCO are fellowship trained completing an additional year of extensive training in their specific orthopaedic specialty…Sports Medicine/Arthroscopic Surgery, Hip & Knee Replacement/Reconstructive Surgery, Foot & Ankle Surgery, and Hand/Microvasular Surgery. For more information about MCO and the physicians of MCO please visit our website www.mcortho.com.