Sports Doc Talk

In 2025, scientists put a living patch on a failing human heart. It grew blood vessels. It kept patients alive. They called it a heart Band-Aid.That is one of the many ways 3D printing is changing medicine right now.This week on Sports Doc Talk, Will Sanchez and Dr. Grant Garcia, orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist. Take on a topic they have been building for nearly a year. 3D printing in medicine and sports surgery, 2026 edition. Where things actually stand. What is happening in operating rooms today. And what is coming next.Dr. Garcia uses 3D printing in his practice every week. Surgical guides, custom implants, pre-surgical models. He breaks down how a CT scan can design a surgery before the patient is ever on the table, why custom-printed implants are giving younger patients with severe joint damage options they never had before, and how patient-specific instrumentation is cutting measurement error from two degrees down to 0.6 percent.He also gets into the things most medical podcasts skip: the insurance reimbursement gap, Medicare's proposed 20% cuts, and why the technology is running ahead of the system designed to pay for it.If you have ever wondered what medicine looks like in five years, this episode gives you a real answer.Find us at sportsdoctalk.com and on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeart.Brought to you by The Recovery Shop.

Kickoff week is here, and the injury report is already longer than anyone wants. Will Sanchez and Dr. Grant Garcia sit down, just the two of them this week, to break down everything you need to know before Week 1, from an orthopedic perspective as much as a football one.

They start with the question every fantasy manager and every patient asks and can't quite answer on their own: what's the actual difference between the PUP list and Injured Reserve? From there, it's a full walk through the ACL wave hitting camps this preseason, why "ACL tear" can mean wildly different recoveries depending on what else got damaged, and the one injury a knee brace is actually proven to prevent (it's not the one you'd guess).

Then the good news: the comeback trail. Patrick Mahomes returning from ACL/LCL reconstruction, Malik Nabers working back from a meniscal root tear, George Kittle's Achilles recovery, and Tua Tagovailoa's return after 21 months out with a multi ligament knee injury.

As Dr. Garcia puts it: return to play is a date. Return to performance is a process. That distinction holds for any patient working back from a serious orthopedic injury, not just the players making headlines.

Presented by The Recovery Shop.

Full video breakdown on YouTube. New episodes every week at sportsdoctalk.com.

Francisco Lindor. Mike Trout. Corbin Carroll. A prominent NHL player. All of them missed time this year with the same injury. One that standard X-rays miss up to 80% of the time.

This week on Sports Doc Talk, Will Sanchez and Dr. Grant Garcia sit down with Dr. Nicholas Rose, a fellowship-trained hand and upper extremity surgeon based in Newport Beach who has spent nearly 30 years treating MLB and NHL athletes. He's a physician for Red Bull Sports and one of the go-to hand specialists for agents and players across professional sports.

Dr. Rose walks us through exactly what the hook of the hamate is, why modern power hitting has turned it into one of baseball's most common season-ending injuries, and why the way most players grip the bat is now creating a 366% increase in pressure on that tiny bone.

He also gets into the surgical decision-making process — when to remove the hook, when to try to fix it, and why the season calendar matters as much as the imaging. And he explains what every professional clubhouse should be doing right now to catch this injury before it becomes a problem.

If you follow baseball or hockey, or you've ever had palm or wrist pain you couldn't explain, this one is for you.

Find us at sportsdoctalk.com and on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeart.

Brought to you by The Recovery Shop.

Ever wonder what actually goes on in an NBA training room? We found out.

This week on Sports Doc Talk, Will Sanchez and Dr. Grant Garcia sit down with Dr. Travis Maak — orthopedic sports medicine specialist at the University of Utah, head team physician for the Utah Jazz, and president of the NBA Physicians Association. He has treated Olympic speed skaters, college football players, and some of the best basketball players in the world. And he grew up on a farm in Utah and became a volunteer ski patroller at 17.

Dr. Maak walks us through the cartilage technique he developed called AutoCart — using a patient's own harvested cartilage to repair joint defects in the hip and knee, with recovery timelines that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. He also introduces ChondroMatch, a surgical system he created that finally makes precise cartilage transplantation possible in areas of the knee that surgeons previously couldn't reach.

Along the way, he breaks down how NBA trade physicals really work, why he believes most athletes never actually need surgery, and why he stopped calling it "injury prevention" altogether — a lesson he learned from an Olympic gold medalist at a conference where that was literally the event title.

This one goes deep. Come ready.

Find us at sportsdoctalk.com and on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeart.

Brought to you by The Recovery Shop.

What if your doctor told you "suck it up or get a knee replacement" and they were wrong?

This week on Sports Doc Talk, we're joined by Dr. Marc Pietropaoli, orthopedic surgeon, founder of Victory in Motion, Amazon bestselling author of Repair Not Replace, and the first surgeon in the world to perform a specific FDA-approved ACL repair procedure. He's treated over 30,000 patients, and his stated mission is to end the need for knee replacement surgery by 2043.

Dr. Pietropaoli joins Will Sanchez and Dr. Grant Garcia — orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist — to walk through the regenerative medicine program he's been refining for decades: bone marrow aspirate, PRP, Class IV MLS laser therapy (now AAOS-recommended), and genetic nutrition testing that goes far beyond the standard "eat more protein" advice.

He also explains his Clarity Day concept — a single comprehensive diagnostic visit that replaces the months-long cycle most patients go through — and shares the research showing that 82% of patients in one long-term study avoided knee replacements entirely with targeted bone marrow injections.

Whether you're dealing with knee pain, you've been told surgery is your only option, or you're just curious about where sports medicine is headed, this episode gives you a real, evidence-based alternative to explore.

Find Dr. Pietropaoli's book, Repair Not Replace, wherever books are sold.

Brought to you by The Recovery Shop. Visit sportsdoctalk.com for transcripts and more.

Here's a question that never used to exist: what happens to a college athlete's healthcare when they enter the transfer portal with a blown ankle and their old school has already moved on?

Scott Laigo has the answer. As President of Student Athlete Advocates and a former head football coach at Seattle's Garfield High School, he's in the trenches every day helping athletes and families navigate a system that nobody fully controls anymore.

In this episode, Scott joins Dr. Grant Garcia and Will Sanchez to unpack the real story behind NIL, revenue sharing, and the transfer portal. Why are some high school athletes declining surgery to protect $25,000 NIL deals? How are boosters funding arms races that may not be sustainable? And what does the shift to an NFL-style GM structure actually mean for coaches and recruits?

Dr. Garcia adds clinical context on team physician pressure, how recent lawsuits are changing what doctors will and won't sign off on, and the growing gray zones around athlete medical care in a portal-era world.

Scott's verdict: this system isn't sustainable and real reform starts with fixing the calendar, establishing a cap structure, mandating financial literacy, and getting the right people around the table.

If you're a parent, coach, athlete, or sports medicine professional trying to understand what college sports actually looks like right now, this is the episode.

Resources: studentathletesadvocates.com | Sponsor: The Recovery Shop

#SportsDocTalk #NIL #StudentAthlete #TransferPortal #SportsMedicine #CollegeSports

0:00 Intro + Recovery Shop sponsor

3:00 Student Athlete Advocates — Scott's background & mission

4:30 The 408:1 counselor-to-student ratio problem

5:30 Transfer portal: high schoolers are now #4 in recruiting

7:00 NIL evolves into revenue sharing

9:00 Boosters, Arch Manning & the sustainability question

11:00 The booster entity model explained

12:00 Kentucky basketball's $22M NIL budget

13:00 The NCAA is effectively null and void

14:00 Title IX — the sleeping giant

15:00 Coaching under NIL: X's & O's vs. contracts

16:00 Oregon's playoff chaos — 7 RBs down to 2 in one week

17:30 Fixing the recruiting calendar

19:00 Portal timing reform & OTA-style restructuring

20:30 Oregon's coordinators leave mid-playoff

21:00 Trump's NIL roundtable — right people at the table?

22:30 NCAA should just run March Madness — Scott's take

23:00 International athletes & global NIL

26:00 High school NIL & athletes refusing surgery for $25K

27:30 Healthcare gap in the transfer portal — who pays?

33:00 Team physicians, incentives & clearing players

35:00 Brian Daboll's concussion fine & coaching pressure on docs

38:00 Philadelphia Eagles lawsuit & liability shifts

40:00 Financial literacy gap — the 1099 truck story

41:30 UW's financial literacy initiative

43:00 High school tipping apps & gambling risk

44:30 The NFL GM model arrives in college football

47:00 Will this system implode? Scott's honest prediction

50:00 Nike vs. potato salad — Oregon vs. Oregon State

51:00 Wrap-up & how to reach Scott Laigo

What if you could walk out of bunion surgery the same day? What if an Achilles repair didn't mean 6 weeks on crutches?

This week on Sports Doc Talk, Dr. Grant Garcia and Will Sanchez sit down with Dr. Anthony Yi, a foot & ankle specialist at Orthopedic Specialists of Seattle who is pioneering the minimally invasive techniques changing recovery timelines forever.

This episode is personal: Dr. Yi is the surgeon who repaired host Will Sanchez's ruptured Achilles. Will brings a raw patient perspective to a conversation packed with cutting-edge surgical insights.

In this episode, we dive into:

🔥 THE RECOVERY REVOLUTION

The 4-Stitch Bunion: How to correct a bunion through tiny incisions and walk immediately after.

Arthroscopic Achilles Repair: 2 small incisions vs. a massive scar.

The Death of the "6-Week Rule": Why the old "stay off it completely" mentality is being phased out.

🏀 THE PRO SPORTS ANGLE

The Achilles Spike: Why are we seeing so many ruptures in the NFL and NBA?

Shoes vs. Surfaces, does it matter?: Dr. Yi weighs in on what’s actually causing the injury surge.

Getting Back Faster: How new techniques are shaving months off return-to-play dates.

⚠️ CRITICAL SAFETY & RECOVERY

The Antibiotic Warning: The specific class of meds (fluoroquinolones) that can weaken your tendons.

The Mental Health Gap: Why foot/ankle recovery is a mental battle and how to survive the "non-weight bearing" blues.

Nutrition: Why cutting calories during recovery is a huge mistake.

⏰ EPISODE CHAPTERS:

0:00 - Introduction & Welcome

3:00 - Why Foot & Ankle Specialization?

5:00 - The Minimally Invasive Revolution

8:00 - 4-Stitch Bunion Correction Breakdown

12:00 - Immediate Weight Bearing vs Traditional Recovery

15:00 - Arthroscopic Achilles Repair Explained

20:00 - NFL & NBA Achilles Injury Spike

25:00 - Antibiotic Warning for Athletes

30:00 - Cartilage Repair & Biologics

35:00 - High Ankle Sprains & Scope Evaluation

40:00 - When to Scope an Ankle Fracture

45:00 - Mental Health & Recovery Reality

50:00 - Rehab Keys & Return to Sport

🔗 CONNECT WITH US:

Guest Website: anthonyyimd.com

Our Website: sportsdoctalk.com

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AtcwmqDJsyA

💪 SPONSORED BY THE RECOVERY SHOP

Expert-level cold therapy and compression solutions to get you back in the game.

#FootAndAnkleSurgery #AchillesRepair #MinimallyInvasive #SportsMedicine #InjuryRecovery #BunionSurgery #NFL #NBA #Orthopedics #PhysicalTherapy #TheRecoveryShop #DrAnthonyYi #Podcast

Back pain is one of the most common diagnoses in medicine, and most people are told their only options are rest, medication, injections, or surgery. Dr. Brigitte Rozenberg is here to tell you there's a fourth path.

On this episode of Sports Doc Talk, Will and Dr. Garcia welcome the LA-based spine specialist and creator of Advanced Spinal Restoration Therapy (ASRT) to walk through the exact non-surgical protocol she uses to get athletes, injury patients, and chronic pain sufferers back to full function without going under the knife.

Dr. Rozenberg breaks down every device in her toolkit: the spinal decompression table that creates negative pressure to draw disc material back in, the robotic laser that triggers cellular healing, the neuromuscular stimulator running at 10,000 pulses per second, and the cutting-edge muscle-building device that can produce 20,000 muscle contractions in 30 minutes. She explains how these tools work together in a phased protocol and why combining them produces results that no single treatment can achieve alone.

The episode also features a standout case study: a 16-year-old gymnast training for the Olympics who walked in unable to train, with disc desiccation and early signs of spondylolysis, and walked back out months later fully recovered. Dr. Garcia weighs in with the orthopedic surgeon's perspective throughout, offering a candid look at where surgery is necessary and where it's simply the last tool left when the right non-surgical care wasn't available.

This one is for anyone who has been told to just manage their back pain. You might have more options than you think.

00:00 Welcome & The Golden Globes Rant

00:55 The Recovery Shop Sponsor Message

01:45 Meet Dr. Brigitte Rozenberg

04:00 What Is Advanced Spinal Restoration Therapy?

09:00 Why Spinal Decompression Was the Missing Link

13:00 The Sculp Neo: Rebuilding Muscle After Disc Injury

19:00 Class IV Robotic Laser Therapy Explained

23:00 How the ACUSA Decompression Table Works

31:30 Neuro Me: Electrical Stimulation at 10,000 Pulses/Sec

35:30 SoftWave Therapy: Acoustic Waves for Pain Relief

38:00 Case Study: Olympic Gymnast & Disc Recovery

45:30 The Surgeon's View: When to Operate, When Not To

47:00 What's Next for Spine Care Technology

sportsdoctalk.com | linktr.ee/sportsdoctalk | The Recovery Shop: [email protected]

What do Formula 1 racing and meniscus repair have in common? More than you'd think. This week, Dr. Grant Garcia and Will Sanchez welcome Dr. Nicholas Colyvas, a UCSF sports medicine surgeon who's revolutionizing how we approach knee surgery while living out his passion for vintage F1 racing.

Dr. Colyvas takes us from his childhood in South Africa to the operating rooms of UCSF, where he's pioneering meniscus preservation techniques that are keeping athletes in the game longer. He breaks down complex procedures like fibrin clot augmentation and meniscus transplants in ways that make sense whether you're a patient, athlete, or fellow surgeon.

But here's where it gets really interesting: Dr. Colyvas doesn't just talk about precision in surgery. He lives it on the racetrack, piloting vintage Formula 1 cars at Monaco and competing in modern endurance racing. The parallels between racing and surgery? They're all about preparation, precision, and knowing when to push the limits.

This episode is packed with surgical innovation, patient care philosophy, and some seriously cool racing stories. Whether you're dealing with a knee injury, interested in sports medicine, or just love a good F1 story, you won't want to miss this one.

Brought to you by The Recovery Shop - visit shop-recovery.net

CHAPTER MARKERS:

Introduction & Background

The Journey to Sports Medicine

Meniscus Preservation Revolution

Advanced Surgical Techniques

Fibrin Clot & Biologics

Meniscus Transplant Surgery

Patient Communication & Expectations

Robotics in Arthroscopy

Formula 1 Racing Passion

The Monaco Experience

Future of Joint Preservation

Find us at:

Website: sportsdoctalk.com

All Links: linktr.ee/sportsdoctalk

Dr. Grant Garcia and Will Sanchez welcome Dr. Greg Kolovich, orthopedic hand surgeon and co-founder of Oxo, to discuss revolutionary Dynamic Digital Radiography (DDR) technology that's transforming sports medicine.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

🔬 From Engineer to Surgeon

Dr. Kolovich's unique journey from Georgia Tech electrical engineer to Harvard-trained hand surgeon and medical device innovator

📱 The 8-Pound Revolution

Learn how DDR technology miniaturized an 800-pound C-arm into a portable, battery-powered device with crystal-clear imaging

⚡ Game-Changing Diagnostics

Real-time dynamic instability assessment

Less radiation than traditional fluoroscopy

Applications for sports teams, mission work, and emergency care

🏒 Sports Medicine Applications

How professional hockey teams use portable DDR for sideline diagnostics and remote consultation

🌍 Global Impact

Mission work stories from Kenya, Ethiopia, India, and Honduras—bringing advanced imaging to underserved communities

💡 Clinical Wisdom

When NOT to operate

Building a complex surgical practice

Second opinion philosophy

Patient-first approach

🚀 The Future

Point-of-care diagnostics, home healthcare, and the next generation of medical imaging

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Intro

03:00 - Engineer to Surgeon Journey

06:00 - Hand & Nerve Surgery Specialization

11:00 - Mission Work Stories

19:00 - Birth of Oxo Technology

30:00 - DDR vs. Fluoroscopy Explained

35:00 - Clinical Applications

44:00 - Sports Team Use Cases

47:00 - Future Vision

Special thanks to The Recovery Shop for supporting innovative sports medicine conversations!

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📝 Full Transcript: sportsdoctalk.com

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