Sports Medicine/Shoulder Specialists Join Bassett
Cooperstown, N.Y. – Orthopedic surgeons Tally Lassiter, Jr., M.D., M.H.A., and Jocelyn Wittstein, M.D., have joined the Bassett Healthcare Network as sports medicine and shoulder specialists. Drs. Lassiter and Wittstein recently came here from Duke University where Dr. Lassiter was on faculty and Dr. Wittstein was a fellow in sports medicine and shoulder. They will see patients for consultations and surgical management of orthopedic disorders in Oneonta at FoxCare Center and Oneonta Specialty Services. Dr. Lassiter will be directing the Shoulder and Sports Medicine Institute for the Bassett Healthcare Network. Dr. Wittstein will be leading the Institute’s research efforts, which will focus on how to prevent and manage shoulder and athletic injuries in people living in central New York.
Drs. Lassiter and Wittstein will use the latest techniques in treating patients for a range of orthopedic conditions, including arthroscopic rotator cuff tears and shoulder instability surgery, arthritis of shoulder joint with total shoulder replacement. In advanced cases of arthritis, and when the patient has not responded to other corrective measures, the ball and the socket of the shoulder is replaced in shoulder replacement surgery, giving good predictable pain relief. Biologic patches are now one option to repair very large rotator cuff tears. Minimally invasive surgical procedures may be used in some cases of arthritic shoulder conditions where bone spurs are a problem.
Patients presenting with very advanced shoulder arthritis and extremely limited shoulder use due to associated rotator cuff tears, who have not responded to pain medication or other modalities, may benefit from a newer procedure called reverse shoulder arthroplasty. It is so named because the usual positions of the ball and socket replacements are reversed in the shoulder. Reverse shoulder arthroplasty gives the patient pain relief and ability to lift their arm above their head.
Drs. Lassiter and Wittstein also have additional training in outpatient anterior cruciate ligament and complicated knee ligament surgery, elbow arthroscopy and ligament reconstruction in athletes whose sport involves repeated throwing, such as baseball or football. Dr. Lassiter has additional training in hip arthroscopy for labral tears in athletes, femoral-acetabular impingement and early hip arthritis.
Dr. Lassiter, who is board certified in orthopedics and sports medicine, completed general surgery and orthopedic residencies at Duke University. He received fellowship training in sports medicine and arthroscopy at East Carolina University Sports Medicine, and completed an AO Fellowship in knee trauma, in Bern, Switzerland.
Prior to joining Bassett, Dr. Lassiter was chief of orthopedics at Duke’s Durham Veterans Hospital where he
was an associate consulting professor at Duke University. Prior to this he was head orthopedic team physician
for the East Carolina University Pirates. He was awarded the North Carolina Sports Medicine Person of the
Year award in 2002 by the state’s athletic trainers. Dr. Lassiter received his medical degree at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Wittstein completed a residency in orthopedic surgery and a fellowship in sports medicine and shoulder at Duke University. Dr. Wittstein earned her medical degree at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. She recently received the Outstanding Clinician Scientist award from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine for the best clinical science research paper.
For an appointment with either Dr. Lassiter or Dr. Wittstein, at FoxCare Center, call 607-432-2239, or Oneonta Specialty Services, call 607-433-6300.
