Douglas Adams

During warm ups of my freshman year high school baseball tryout in 2010, I threw a base ball from third base to first base when my arm snapped. After that throw I was unable to lift my right elbow. I was first diagnosed with a fractured growth plate in my elbow. After allowing that to heal and doing physical therapy for months I went back to playing baseball in the summer of that same year. My arm still did not feel quite right. My parents and I wanted to cure the injury once and for good so we set up an appointment with Dr. Joshua Dines because he was highly recommended to us through close friends. Immediately upon entering Hospital for Special Surgery, my parents and I were amazed at how welcoming and clean it was. When I first met Dr. Dines, I was very nervous because I didn't know what the diagnoses was going to be and I already missed a full season of baseball. After thoroughly examining many MRI's that showed no ligament damage to my elbow, Dr. Dines decided it was best to do an exploratory surgery to look at the ligament and surrounding bones in my elbow. Dr. Dines reassured me before my surgery that everything was going to be okay and that I was in good hands. After the surgery, one of the first people to greet me by my hospital bed was Dr. Dines. He told me that the surgery was a success and that I had a slightly torn ligament in my elbow which was causing me pain while throwing.

After the surgery, I was then told that I would miss my third baseball season because it would not be healed enough for me to start playing baseball again. That news made me work even harder in physical therapy. Sure enough, I was cleared by Dr. Dines and the physical therapist to play baseball in March of my junior year. I ended up having a great season batting .395 with two home runs and a Division Championship.

Dr. Dines and Hospital for Special Surgery did an amazing job on my surgery and even to this day, about 5 years later, my elbow is stronger and better than ever. Dr. Dines and his team did an awesome job and I can't thank them enough for all of their hard work.