The Windy City Bulls (Chicago Bulls National Basketball Association D-League team) have two new team physicians—Jeremy Alland, M.D. and Adam Yanke, M.D., sports medicine physicians from Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush. Dr. Alland is a primary care sports medicine physician and Dr. Yanke is a knee, shoulder and elbow surgeon, and specializes in cartilage restoration.
New Team Physicians for Windy City Bulls
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As indicated in the October 19 2016 news release, “As a former collegiate baseball pitcher, Dr. Alland has a strong passion for both sports and medicine. He specializes in the care of the entire athlete and is also a team physician for the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Fire Soccer Club. Dr. Yanke has experience playing competitive sports and treating athletes of all levels. In addition to performing surgery, he is trained in advanced joint arthroscopy, shoulder arthroplasty and cartilage restoration techniques. He is also a team physician for the Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Fire Soccer Club.”
Dr. Yanke told OTW, “We are very excited to start working with this developmental league team associated with the Chicago Bulls and we plan to care for the Windy City Bulls the same way we care for the Bulls. Most our work now is to make sure that we’re ready for the start of the season, including clearance visit physicals to make sure all the players are healthy. After this initial phase, it becomes relatively more routine with maintenance of chronic overuse related injuries versus acute injuries that may need more significant intervention. We expect to have close interplay with the Chicago Bulls because NBA [National Basketball Association] players may need to come to the developmental league to rehabilitate and recover from injuries until they are ready to go back. We are very excited for the beginning of the season and think this will be an excellent opportunity for everyone involved.”
Dr. Alland commented to OTW, “This situation is very unique because not only is the Windy City Bulls a brand new organization, the NBA D-League is a relatively new and rapidly expanding league. We will have a physician present at every home game and both Dr. Yanke and myself will be accessible to players throughout the season for any medical concerns. Our early meetings with the team have emphasized communication throughout the organization because will be learning about the intricacies of an NBDL organization, including when players are ‘called up’ and ‘sent down.’ Players may also require ‘rehab assignments’ when returning from injury and we will work in conjunction with the NBA medical staff to get them back safely and efficiently. Ultimately, we will bring the same high quality, personal care that the Chicago Bulls organization has come to expect from Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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