The Upper Hand: Chuck & Chris Talk Hand Surgery

Our first guest on the Upper Hand Podcast is the Journal of Hand Surgery Editor in Chief, Brent Graham.  We learn about Dr. Graham's training, career, and path to Editor.  We learn more about Dr. Graham's insights into the world of hand surgery and journal editing.  Dr. Graham also hosts a podcast for the Journal of Hand Surgery, so he is no stranger to this medium.   As always, thanks t...

Episode 10. 7 Wack Gigs explores what we can learn when surgeries don't go quite like we planned.   Wack definition- "bad, messed up".  Gig definition- "live musical performance' We are indebted to @iampetermartin for both his music and the concept of exploring this concept.  We evaluate what we can learn when surgeries veer off the planned path.  We share 7 lessons that C...

In Scaphoid 2, we discuss our most common strategies for operative management, including when and how to go dorsal vs volar, when and how we like to use bone graft, and when angular correction is needed. We review our postoperative protocols for immobilization, therapy, and return to activity.  Technical pearls shared.  Thank you to @iampetermartin for his musical contribution.

Scaphoid 1.  In this episode, we discuss the diagnosis of scaphoid fractures including the role of advanced imaging.  We then discuss our approaches on the operative and nonoperative care including patient counseling.  In this episode, we focus our operative discussion on the dorsal approach including tips and technical tricks for the surgical approach.  Thanks to @iamPeterMartin for the amazing m...

Chris and I talk about the technical aspects of carpal tunnel surgery including our approach, open versus endoscopic, and other controversies.  Thanks to @IamPeterMartin for the amazing jazz piano.

We talk about one of the most common diagnoses in any upper extremity surgeon's practice- carpal tunnel syndrome.  This episode is mostly about our approach to the patient and the steps we take in assessing the patient and making a diagnosis.  We review important considerations such as: key patient complaints, which diagnostic tests help most, and how we use steroid injections.  Thanks to @Ia...

We discuss our general approach to metacarpal fractures, which were recently in the news due to Steph Curry’s injury. We talk through our decision tree, how we treat non-operatively, how we treat surgically, and return to activity/play considerations.

Learn a little more about your co-hosts and why we decided to launch a podcast about hand surgery. Chuck describes his experience with a highly successful patient education blog. Chris describes his failed blog and his hot/cold relationship with Twitter.

In our first episode, we discuss our approaches to the diagnosis and work-up of a patient with cubital tunnel syndrome . We review the pertinent history, our preferred physical exam, and our thoughts regarding diagnostic testing. We also discuss our initial treatment and counseling regarding prognosis and expectations.  Thanks to @IamPeterMartin for his advice and amazing jazz piano.

Episode 2: we continue with the case vignette on cubital tunnel syndrome discussed in the first episode. We discuss our preferences regarding choice of procedure – when we like doing an in situ decompression or an ulnar nerve transposition (and which types). We also get into details regarding our surgical technique and postoperative protocols after each surgery.  Thanks to @IamPeterMartin for his...

We just finished hosting residency interviews and we have our fellowship interviews coming up, so we have had some time to reflect on the process. We discuss our recent experiences interviewing candidates for our training programs. Hopefully our insights will be helpful to those on or soon to be on the interview trail!  Thanks to @IamPeterMartin for his advice and amazing jazz piano.