Live from The Travelers Championship: Hartford HealthCare's Dr Waskowitz

Live from The Travelers Championship: Hartford HealthCare's  Dr Waskowitz shares important info about staying safe on the links! 
Dr. Robert Waskowitz is a third generation physician from Connecticut. His primary interests include the diagnosis and treatment of knee and shoulder injuries and sports medicine. He performs reconstructive and arthroscopic procedures on the knee, shoulder, ankle and elbow.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I hear communities. Thank you somuch for listening. I'm Rene Ade Denino.
It's Bertie's for Charity. We're herelive in the fan zone, TPC
River Highlands and Crownwell at the TravelersChampionship to find us. We're next to
Minigoff. We're gonna be here throughends of Play and we are supporting Birdie's
for Charity, so thank you.Webster Bank. Charity's earning an extra fifteen
percent on every dollar donated through endof place. That's super, super important.

(00:20):
And we're also talking to a lotof our friends here throughout the campus,
the course or the links if youwill, from Harpard Healthcare and specifically
Orthopedic Associates of Hartford. My kneesknow them very well. I'm very excited
to have doctor Bob Waskowitz here withus. Thank you so much for being
here. It's a privileged to behere with you. Well, first of
all, I hope I said yourname okay and gave it you the proper

(00:42):
justice it deserves. Doctor Bob isperfect. Doctor Bob, I know I've
got a double knee replacement in myfuture. Tell me how I can avoid
that. Well, you need tostay as active as you can. Okay,
at the expense of the negatives.Okay, so osteoarth right, it
is wear and tear of the joints, and you have to find balance,
stay as act as you can.I'll do it. Respect what your body
tells you. I promise, Ipromise, I promise. All right,

(01:03):
let's talk about golf. That's whywe're here. And you know, first
and foremost, what are some ofthe common injuries. I know you get
this asked all the time, butespecially with our golfers in this time of
year, what are some of thecommon injuries? You say, Well,
it's privileged to be here with youand with the travelers. Again, this
is my eighth ye're doing it.So I've had tremendous experience with the highest

(01:23):
level players on world stage. Theseathletes come in tuned. They're professionals for
a reason. So this is nota weekend warrior type of thing. It's
a year long, year after year. So all of these athletes come in
in top shape. What I seemost commonly are managing long term injuries,
not acute injuries, but long terminjuries shoulders and backs. Yeah, So

(01:44):
what I sort of am inferring fromwhat you're saying is if you're just you
know, you're going to play golfwith your friends on the weekend, don't
Overexert, don't try to be apro golfer. Is that what I'm getting
here? That's the goal was shootfor, but very few of us get
to that level. The idea ofthe weekend warrior or anyone who engages with

(02:05):
some form of a sport is balance. So if you are going to play
golf, if you're inspired by thisto even take lessons, are there special
warm up activities one could do?It is specific for golf, and probably
one of the more common things thatwe see is the low back and shoulders.
Oh okay, So there's always awarm up period with any sport.
You have to warm up first,you go through your discipline, and there's

(02:28):
a cool down phase. All ofthese golfers are in our trailer zone on
site, warming up well before theirtea time, so that warm up phase
is key. Following that, however, is a cool down phase, and
you have to institute that. Ithink people forget the cool down a lot
of times because they're just happy tobe done and they're like, I'm out,
and then they go sit and staystill, and I think that's probably
the worst thing you could do.Down is a super important part because if

(02:51):
the engine sits, it doesn't startvery well, doesn't get up very fast,
does it all? Right? Whatspecifically do you have here on site
for those spectators that are coming throughend of play? I know Harvard Healthcare
has a great set up, agreat tent. What can we expect from
you all? We want to takecare of our population, and from my
perspective, it's the athletes, theprofessionals, but we also have spectators.

(03:13):
So the spectator medical on site isa full treatment center where they can have
an evaluation if they need to beseen. Hydration and we hit on that
a little bit earlier because of theheat index, hydration is key here on
site for our pros. The PGAsupplies an incredible group of athletic trainers with
two full treatment trailers rehab tent,so we have pretty much everything covered from

(03:36):
start to finish. You know,when you think about drinking water and keeping
our muscles or joints, everything kindof lubricated and moving along right. I've
been told by many doctors that it'swhen you're not thirsty, or when you're
almost I know how to say this, and I'm just going to say this.
Your doctor, you use but ifyou're not going to the bathroom,
if you're not sing, that's kindof not a good sign. It's not

(03:57):
a good sign. And we needto keep the okay and that reflex.
If you're thinking that you're thirsty,it's almost too late, so you need
to come into this, which justmade me scared a little bit. And
goodness, I'm thirsty. Oh wait, I'm thirsty. Wait, I need
to take a drink. Are youkeep talking? I'm gonna I have a
pedia light over here. I've gotwater. It's super important to keep that
tank full because if you cross overto the point where there's a heat problem,

(04:23):
you're behind the game. So it'swhat's important to hydrate. Actually,
that's probably some of the best advicewe're going to get through this tournament.
Stay hydrated. No know your limitations, cover up, sun block, protection,
all all of those things. Iknow, your booth is incredible,
it's air condition, You've got alot of qualified staff members in there,
a lot of fun going on overthere. And I know with orthopedic associates,

(04:44):
I actually have personal connections with you. My knees. Both of them
have personal I do I get myI get a quarterly quartison chance. We'll
talk about that off air, butin any event, I truly appreciate your
time here today. I know thepros appreciate you. And and also the
weekend worries is you're just saying Iwant to ask you one last question though.
Is there a difference between a femaleand a male knee when we're working

(05:09):
out, when we're playing in ourarms and our shoulders. Are there different
things that we could be doing toprotect ourselves? Yes and no. Okay,
the general concept is stay in goodconditions, stay in shape for everybody.
The gender specificity thing female versus amale athlete. We know that there
are risk factors, particularly for knees. For a young female athlete, higher

(05:30):
risk for an anti Recrucia ligament injuryin two sports in particular basketball and soccer.
Wow, And we're trying to figureout what that is. Is an
atomic thing, is it a trainingthing? Is it a muscular imbalance?
But we do have that difference betweena gender male versus female athlete. The
bottom line with that, however,is still to try and maintain function in

(05:51):
shape, come into an event ingood condition, you'll come out of an
event in good condition. That soundslike another topic for another day too.
We just opened a door on thatone, so let's close it for now.
We are live at the Travelers Championship. I want you to visit our
friends at Harford Healthcare and of courseOrthopedic Associates of Hertford. They've got booths
here. You're gonna see their signageeverywhere. Always great advice too. And

(06:13):
doctor Bob, thank you for thereminder of saying hydrated, I mean ultimately
right now with this heat, that'sreally super important. Find balance and stay
healthy all right? Oh, greatway to wrap this up. If you
want more information too about Orthopedic Associatesof Hartford, you can visit them online
at o AHCT dot com. Thanksfor being here today. Thank you,