Joey Wahler (Host): It's a new option for those suffering from sports-related aches, pains or injuries. So, we're discussing UK HealthCare's Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine Walk-in Clinic. Our guest, Dr. Kim Kaiser. She's a primary care sports medicine physician for UK HealthCare. This is UK HealthCast, a podcast presented by UK HealthCare. Thanks for listening. I'm Joey Wahler. Hi, Dr. Kaiser. Thanks for joining us.

Dr Kim Kaiser: Hello, thanks for having me.

Host: Great to have you aboard. So first, can you give us, please, a little general overview of the services offered at the walk-in clinic, and then we'll get into some more details from there.

Dr Kim Kaiser: Absolutely. We offer a full sports medicine walk-in clinic with kind of full access and coverage for any athlete, whether young or old, with an acute athletic injury within 72 hours for their injury with it. And so, we see a variety of patients with any kind of injury from ankles to knees to shoulders to concussions that have those, from whether it's an athletic event such as a game or a practice, or whether it's a weekend warrior that is pursuing their own extracurricular activities over the weekend.

Host: So, in other words, you'll see both the competitive athlete and the guy or gal playing racquetball on the weekend.

Dr Kim Kaiser: Absolutely. No discrimination between level of sport with it from that direction.

Host: Okay. Great to hear. So when we say walk-in, I presume that means no appointment is needed.

Dr Kim Kaiser: That's accurate, yes. So, we have a walk in clinic from 7 to 8 a.m. every morning, Monday through Friday. And those, again, are for acute athletic injuries that are 72-hours old, or within that time frame with it. We also have a general orthopedic walk-in clinic that if you have not had an acute injury that fits within that time frame that's more of a chronic issue, those are also available from 8:00 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday. But focusing in on the sports medicine walk-in clinic, again, that's 7:00 to 8:00 a. m. every day of the week, and you'll see one of our three primary care sports medicine providers, including myself. And we offer, again, full service. So, you'll get x rays, evaluation by the sports medicine physician, and then whatever appointment kind of triage you need as far as management goes. So if it is found that you have a broken bone, we'll get you into a cast or a brace. If you have a knee injury that needs subsequent workup, we'll get an MRI scheduled sometimes the same day and then get you referred on to our surgeon if surgery is needed and/or manage you with physical therapy or bracing or kind of other modalities to get you back and active and playing again.

Host: Gotcha. And one apparent big advantage here is that, as a walk-in clinic, it means patients can come right in and be seen immediately as opposed to often when looking to see a specialist elsewhere, they might have to wait weeks or sometimes even months if it's someone that's real busy or real popular, right?

Dr Kim Kaiser: Correct. Yes, that's kind of the main draw, I think, for patients. And we get patients from all over Kentucky with it, so sometimes driving in two and three hours away, to get that care needed in that direction. But, again, if it isn't within 72 hours of your injury, or it's maybe a little bit longer out, we can usually get you scheduled as well into a regular clinic appointment within a couple days at most to help get you evaluated that way. But again, the walk-in part is the nice part for the acuity of injuries to get you taken care of as fast and accurately as possible.

Host: And of course, oftentimes the kinds of ailments that your patients are suffering from, they need to, they want to be seen right away because they might be in a lot of pain or discomfort, right?

Dr Kim Kaiser: Absolutely. And just as sports medicine physicians, we have a different look, knowing that the athlete wants to get back to play as soon as safely possible. And so, that's why we also have kind of a different perspective to say, "You're not going to stay out for two weeks, you know, if we can help it." So, obviously, to get them back as safe as possible, but as fast as possible for that perspective as well, that we understand that part of things and understand the game and how important that is to get things triaged appropriately and effectively.

Host: You mentioned earlier some of the injuries that you typically treat. For the non-competitive athlete, the weekend warrior, so to speak, what would you say are a few of the more common maladies that you tend to see? How are people usually hurting themselves when they're playing sports even "non-competitively"?

Dr Kim Kaiser: We see a wide variety, so hard to kind of differentiate from that perspective as far as the most common. But frequently, knee injuries and shoulder injuries, I'd say, and ankle injuries probably too, are the three most common that we see with it. So, sometimes it's related to they're playing tennis or pickleball over the weekend and have some shoulder pain related to that, but can't remember an exact mechanism, like they fell.

Other times, especially this time of year, we see a lot of people hiking and rock climbing. And so, an injury may have sustained kind of from that aspect as well, that they twisted their ankle while they were hiking at the gorge over the weekend. So, those are some more of the non-competitive athletes that didn't happen in a football game per se, but definitely manage all of those on a daily basis as well.

Host: Well, Dr. Kaiser, it's interesting you mentioned pickleball there, because I don't think I can ever recall a sport taking off as fast as pickleball has. How many pickleball injuries have you seen?

Dr Kim Kaiser: I feel like it's at least one a day. So, I think it has taken off, especially in Kentucky more recently with it. And so, it's a great way for middle aged and older adults that maybe don't feel quite as fit as be able to keep up with their tennis that they used to play when they were in their teens and 20s, but still are very competitive in playing it. So, I know some patients get very aggressive with it and have some interesting injuries from that.

Host: Yeah. I guess when I referred earlier to some athletes as being non-competitive, even so called non-competitive athletes are often very competitive, right?

Dr Kim Kaiser: Absolutely. So, all based on kind of spectrum of injury with that perspective. But regardless of whether you're a pro athlete or a like a weekend warrior, fun time pickleball, connoisseur, and those are all kind of athlete types that we take care of, and treat them all equally with that. So, we're all trying to get patients back to being as active as possible for them and whatever level they desire to compete in as well.

Host: Absolutely. So, how about this? Oftentimes people may feel a little something that they realize could be an injury, but they're not sure and as you've alluded to. If it's a bigger time athlete, so to speak, they want to stay out there. They don't want to be sidelined. So, where's the line? I know it's kind of a general question. What's the rule of thumb you would advise people to keep in mind when deciding, "Now's the time to see a doctor about this thing I'm feeling that wasn't there before?"

Dr Kim Kaiser: Well, certainly if you have an acute injury, that's the most important time to come in. So, if you have any swelling in any joints, also a very important time to come in and not wait for that because that's usually abnormal. The other caveat to that is that maybe you haven't had an acute injury, but it's really limiting your ability to function on a daily life or able to enjoy the activities that you previously enjoyed. That's always another good reason to come in and be evaluated. And sometimes, you know, just at a general exam and we can reassure you and say, "Nope, I think this is just a little bit of overuse. A little bit of physical therapy may be helpful for you and we can still continue playing versus do we need to monitor this a little while longer and get you into doing some other modalities for it?" Versus "No, this is something serious that might need surgery and we need to stop all activity, and get you further evaluated with some imaging before we make any further decisions. So really it's kind of up to you as far as whether there's an acute injury or not. And if not, and you're still having concerns that you're unable to function at your highest capacity, then we're always happy to see you and further evaluate and to figure out what else we can do to make you better and back to your active lifestyle.

Host: Got it. Couple of other things. This clinic that you're, you and yours are involved with at UK HealthCare, it's called a walk-in clinic, as we've pointed out. We also know that in recent years, many urgent care clinics all over the country have popped up. So if you're seeking injury care, sports medicine treatment, what's the difference between your clinic called walk-in and an urgent care clinic?

Dr Kim Kaiser: With our clinic, you're going to be seen by a sports medicine physician and not a mid-level provider such as a physician assistant or nurse practitioner. So, I think that's one attractive benefit to our clinic with it. Also, all three of us that provide this care are team physicians for the University of Kentucky. So again, we're used to dealing with higher level athletes and getting them back to their highest functioning capacity with it.

The other difference between us and urgent care is that we'll do a kind of a full evaluation and give you a full treatment plan at the time of evaluation that you're seen. So, we're going to get x-rays, we're going to get advanced imaging, such as an MRI if needed. I'm set up very quickly with that standpoint. We can get you braced if needed to help again with functioning or to get you the appropriate treatment and management. Whereas sometimes in urgent care, they may be able to stabilize you for the short term, but then are referring you on to an orthopedic clinic for additional care. We're really a one-stop shop and take all of that into account and management to get you all completely covered from the get-go.

Host: And so picking up on that point, what kind of special training do you and the other physicians who staff the walk-in clinic have actually?

Dr Kim Kaiser: We are all family medicine-trained providers with a special emphasis in additional training in sports medicine. So, we're all under the orthopedic and sports medicine department at the University of Kentucky. So, we provide additional care for orthopedics and for our surgeons as well. And so, we do all of their non-operative management of sports medicine.

Host: And where and when does the sports medicine walk-in clinic operate?

Dr Kim Kaiser: You can find us at 2195 Harrodsburg Road at UK Turfland Clinic, and the hours of operation are from 7:00 to 8:00 AM Monday through Friday. We are happy to see you at any of those times. And again, if you haven't had an injury within 72 hours, we can likely get you in also very quickly or after those hours with it, as we provide full clinics every day of the week from 8:00 to 5:00.

Host: And so in summary here, doctor, you mentioned some of the nuts and bolts. But maybe from a personal standpoint, in terms of your approach, you know, dealing with patients on a human level, so to speak, what's the one quality you would say that makes the clinic and its staff stand out?

Dr Kim Kaiser: We're all very caring and all athletic to begin with. And so, we really want you to get back. to whatever function you desire as soon and as safely as possible. So, we treat kind of everybody as a high-level athlete, even though if you don't consider yourself one of those more elite-level athletes, and you think "I'm not the pro football player kind of caliber with it," but we still treat you like that, and really want the best for you. And so, we work really well as a team together. So, sometimes you may see myself, for one visit, but my partner for another. And we have great communication skills and set to really take care of the best of you from our athletic trainers, to our physicians, to our radiology technologists, to our bracing person. So, you're getting great quality care all around and a great team to work with to help get you back functioning to your best capability.

Host: So even if you're not playing ball for Coach John Calipari at Kentucky, you'll make someone feel as though they could be, right?

Dr Kim Kaiser: That's our goal. Yes,

Host: Excellent. You never know when he might need someone to heal up real quick and give him an extra body, right?

Dr Kim Kaiser: Absolutely.

Host: Excellent. Well, folks, we trust you're now more familiar with UK HealthCare's Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine Walk-in Clinic, Dr. Kim Kaiser. A pleasure. Thanks so much again.

Dr Kim Kaiser: Thank you so much for having us.

Host: Same here. And for more information, please do visit ukhealthcare.com. Again, that's ukhealthcare.com. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social media. I'm Joey Wahler. And thanks again for listening to UK HealthCast, a podcast presented by UK HealthCare.