Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Rooney speaks about his specialty

Dr. Rooney is a fellowship-trained orthopedic spine surgeon practicing at Lompoc Health - North H Center. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he earned his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He completed his orthopedic surgery training in the U.S. Army and is board certified in both orthopedic and spine surgery. He was separately selected as the Clinical Travelling Fellow by the Scoliosis Research Society, the North American Spine Society, and the Cervical Spine Research Society and is the only surgeon to win all three of the awards concurrently. His accomplishments in the field of Regenerative Medicine and his knowledge of Stem Cell science were recognized by Congress and in 2009 and 2011 he was appointed as a Peer Reviewer for Congressional Directed Medical Research Programs in Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell therapy in Orthopedics. He has authored numerous research articles, lectured extensively on Spine Surgery and Regenerative Medicine and authored the Spine and Orthopedic chapters in the definitive textbook on Combat Trauma. 

Q: Why were you interested in orthopedics as a specialty? 

A: What I find interesting about orthopedic surgery is a combination of problem solving and working with my hands. Things like internal medicine, you do problem solving but you don’t work with your hands. I get to work with my hands in addition to the problem solving. My first interaction with orthopedic surgery was having surgery from playing sports. I had a lot of interaction with orthopedic surgeon in my college career, with team doctors. The patient population was more similar to me than less similar. I would have been happy doing any surgery, but orthopedics was the one I found most interesting. 

Q: What do you enjoy about your specialty? 

A: It’s very rewarding when you help people. And that is sort of the bonus on top of doing a job you are challenged by and like doing. At the end of the day you’re helping people, so that feels good. You can be successful in any business but you don’t necessarily go home and say ‘I feel good about helping people.’ I think orthopedic surgery is one of those few specialties where patients can really tell a difference between having a problem solved and not … In orthopedics, you have arthritis, you get a knee replacement, you feel better.  

Q: What type of orthopedic issues do you most often treat? 

A: Most of it is wear and tear type problems – arthritis related, shoulder pain, back pain. I see patients of all ages. People are more active later in life now. So, you see the demands of patients going later in life than they used to. You have to have realistic expectations as to what your body can do at 80 vs. 30. You have to put your expectations into context with the patient. 

Q: Is surgery always the answer for orthopedic patients? 

A: A lot of people believe that if they have an issue, they need to have surgery to get it fixed. I would say on average for me, 1 in 20 that come in end up having surgery. The vast majority of people can be managed non-surgically, even when they have an abnormality. There’s a spectrum to the diagnosis. If you come in and have knee arthritis, the question is not “Do you have surgery or not?” The question is, “How bad are your symptoms?” A surgeon’s threshold for offering surgery to patients is different … Most of my patients will tell you I don’t automatically recommend surgery. I’ll offer surgery but I generally leave it up to the patient to decide. They have to be psychologically invested. They have to be the one to make that decision. 

Q: Why should patients come see you for orthopedic issues? 

A: I have 20 years of experience and thousands of surgeries under my belt. You don’t want someone who has done this surgery five times. You want someone who has done it hundreds of times. There’s nobody between here and Stanford that has the same type of training and experience in spine surgery that I do. Not even close ... Within 48 hours, I can see almost any patient, and that’s something that doesn’t happen in Santa Maria, Solvang, Buellton or Santa Barbara. 

Q: What else should people know about your practice? 

A: We do spinal cord stimulators. Pain management places have been doing it for a long time; it’s very common. We haven’t done them here. We don’t have pain management (clinics) in town. We do them at the hospital. We lay an electrode against the spinal cord, similar to a pacemaker. A small little electrical charge blocks the pain signal. When all else fails and you’re still having pain, a spinal cord stimulator can help with that. I also have a lot of experience with regenerative medicine. We do platelet-rich plasma injections from the patient’s own blood. The PRP is injected into the damaged area (tendons, ligaments, muscles, bones and joints). It turns down the inflammation, stimulates healing. Our prices are significantly less (than having the injection elsewhere). Most people don’t know about it.