Whether you end up in the Emergency Department with an unexpected broken bone or you're on the journey of finding a solution to aches and pains, RiverView Health's musculoskeletal team—more commonly called orthopaedics or orthopaedic services—is here to provide an entire spectrum of care from prevention and diagnosis to surgical intervention, injury care and rehabilitation. Orthopaedic services is the medical specialty that involves the treatment of the musculoskeletal system, which is made up of your body's bones, joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles.
Any number of medical problems can affect these areas, but RiverView's highly skilled, comprehensive team of specialists has you covered with advanced training in upper and lower extremities, spine, foot, and ankle care. While all of RiverView's talented orthopaedic surgeons do general surgery when on call, each is also specialized through fellowships and special training in their areas of interests. A fellowship is a period of training that a physician may undertake after completing a specialty training program (residency). After completing a fellowship in the relevant sub-specialty, the provider is permitted to practice without direct supervision by other physicians in that sub-specialty.
With RiverView Health since 2002, Dr. Colin Fennell is an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in shoulders, elbows and hands. He completed two clinical fellowships in Upper extremity orthopaedic surgery, as well as a fellowship in adult brain injury service. Dr. Fennell practices at RiverView's Specialty Clinic in Crookston and RiverView Clinic in East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls.
Dr. Diane Palkert uses surgical and nonsurgical techniques to remedy common and complex foot and ankle problems, in which she completed a fellowship. Dr. Palkert practices out of Crookston's Specialty Clinic. Statistics state that 75 percent of all Americans will experience foot problems at one point or another in their lifetimes.
Because overall bone health is so important, bone health services were added to the Crookston Specialty Clinic in 2014. RiverView Family Nurse Practitioner Andrea Kraft, who has bone health training through the National Osteoporosis Foundation as well as the International Society for Clinical Densitometry, evaluates patients through a comprehensive discussion of diet, activity and lifestyle choices. She goes over all of the potential causes of osteoporosis with the patient, along with possible bone density testing. She then puts all of the information together to determine the individual's risk of fracture, and develops a treatment plan for the individual, if needed.
Dr. Hamid Abbasi is an expert in brain and spine disease and a leading surgeon in the minimally invasive treatment of the spine. After graduating, Dr. Abbasi pursued more than 13 years of extensive neurosurgical training at world-famous institutions including the University of Heidelberg, Stanford University, Dartmouth College and the University of Texas.
With a fellowship in Spine Surgery, Dr. Sunny Kim's passion and dedication to correcting spinal problems has led to treating more than 15,000 patients in the last 25 years. He averages more than 500 surgical spinal cases each year, in addition to spine injection interventions. He frequently performs complex cervical spine surgeries that require a high degree of expertise.
Pain management is very important when dealing with the musculoskeletal system. Pain management doctors specialize in caring for patients who are dealing with chronic pain, whether resulting from injury, disease or otherwise. Dr. Panjini Sivanna, who completed a critical care medicine fellowship, creates customized pain management plans for patients that may include therapy, medication management or minimally invasive procedures. When creating a customized pain management plan, Dr. Sivanna evaluates the patient and their medical history, in addition to performing tests to arrive at a precise diagnosis.