VAIL, Colo. (AP) — Dr. J. Richard Steadman, an orthopedic surgeon who based the famend Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, the place most of the world’s elite athletes have gone for career-saving remedy, has died at age 85.
Steadman died in his sleep Friday at his dwelling in Vail, mentioned Lynda Sampson, vice chairman of exterior affairs on the Steadman Clinic and the Steadman Philippon Analysis Institute.
Steadman was a number one knowledgeable within the restore and rehabilitation of knee accidents. He popularized microfracture knee surgical procedure, a method used to restore cartilage by poking tiny holes close to the faulty space.
“Dr. Steadman was an unbelievable surgeon and leaves a outstanding legacy of innovation within the area of orthopedics and sports activities medication,” Dr. Marc J. Philippon, managing associate of The Steadman Clinic and co-chair of the Steadman Philippon Analysis Institute, mentioned in a press release. “‘Regular’ was a champion for his sufferers, a form and devoted doctor with a therapeutic contact.”
Dan Drawbaugh, CEO of The Steadman Clinic and SPRI, mentioned Steadman’s “strategies and coverings, fairly actually, modified your entire panorama of orthopaedics and sports activities medication. A real innovator, Regular revolutionized his area and supplied a stage of affected person care that was unmatched and has impressed hundreds of physicians of their approaches to medication. He helped hundreds of athletes and sufferers proceed to dwell lively and significant lives.”
Retired from lively apply since 2014, Steadman was a graduate of Texas A&M College, the place he performed soccer for Paul “Bear” Bryant. He earned his medical diploma from the College of Texas Southwestern Medical College in Dallas.
Steadman started working with elite athletes because the workforce physician for the U.S. alpine ski workforce, a place he held for 9 Winter Olympics, beginning with the Video games in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1976.
He moved his apply from Lake Tahoe, California, to Vail in 1990 to broaden his orthopedic analysis and commenced courting main surgeons, amongst them Dr. Richard Hawkins, to affix him within the Colorado ski city.
Among the many elite Olympian {and professional} athletes who went to Steadman’s clinic for procedures have been: Alex Rodriguez, Greg Norman, Mario Lemieux, Ronaldo, Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, John Elway, Bruce Smith, Bode Miller and Picabo Avenue.
NFL Corridor of Famer Rod Woodson advised The Related Press in a 2009, “I most likely wouldn’t be within the Corridor” with out the remedy he obtained at Steadman’s clinic. “I’m indebted.”
Steadman is survived by his spouse, Homosexual Steadman, son Lyon Steadman, and daughter Liddy Lind.
