Contempary Orthopedics: Paul Ackerman MD

So as I sit here waiting for the train to go to the office, I’m feeling pretty good after my early morning appointment with Dr. Paul Ackerman. I saw him, got my diagnosis, left, and will still arrive at the office earlier than I’m required to.

My experience with this doctor was amazing. Let’s start from the first phone call I made to his office. During that phone call, his staff took down my information and informed me that they needed to verify my insurance. Once done, she told me that she could squeeze me in at 7ish in the a.m. I thought that was awesome, especially on a day that she said she was booked in the afternoon.

When I arrived at the appointment, I had to fill out about 6 pages or something, I’ve always hated all that paperwork, but I moved as fast as I could. I was afraid that if people started to arrive before I dipped, that I’d get stuck there late.

There was one woman ahead of me, and when she was done, she came out and said, “I don’t have anything against Hispanic girls, but when they all work together, they look out for each other only.” I think that this is true, but I think it applies to all races and cultures. It’s not just a Hispanic thing. I decided to not get involved in this commentary because I had papers to fill out.

Eventually, the doctor called me in. He’s an older gentleman with a very nice energy and personality. The kind of person that I instantly like. I explained to him that I had an acute injury on my arm, and what I’d consider a chronic one on my Achilles tendon. After I explained to him what I do, he told me about his work with two famous hockey franchises. He said he was their attending physician for awhile, and how that led to a huge boom in business back in the days. Hell yeah, I’d imagine so. That’s pretty awesome! He told me to focus on my hamstrings, quads, hips and calf stretches to prevent injury. 20 minutes before and 20 minutes after.

In any case I thought this was good news because it means that he’s used to seeing sports injuries and would be more than qualified to assess my injuries. He felt and pressed around on my achilles tendon and concluded that I had mild tendonitis. He stated some stretching and avoiding irritating the injury should do the trick.

For my battered and bruised arm, he had me move it around, pressed some spots on my elbow and observed the bruises. He said that I was lucky and it was only a bad bruise. He didn’t believe anything was fractured or torn based on what I told him and what he saw me do.

In both cases, he said there was really no need to waste my time or money with any physical therapy, x-rays, or MRIs. He said these are injuries that will heal if I give them the proper time to heal.

I really appreciated his honesty, I find that doctors often try and milk our insurance or push us to get things done that we don’t really need. It’s refreshing to look a man in the eye and have him be forthcoming and honest about your medical situation.

After seeing the doctor, I paid my bill, got my required paperwork for my aflac accident insurance claim, and here I am on my way to work. The entire experience with him, from start to finish was really good. I highly recommend this doctor if you need a sports doc or orthopedist.

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