Sports Injuries and Platelet-Rich Plasma… for Student Athletes – PediaCast 601

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Description

Dr Wisler Saint-Vil visits the studio as we consider platelet-rich plasma for injured student athletes. What is this treatment? How does it work? Is it safe? And what types of injuries are candidates for the procedure? Tune in to find out!

Topic

Platelet-Rich Plasma for Injured Student Athletes

Guest

Dr Wisler Saint-Vil
Sports Medicine
Nationwide Children’s Hospital 

Links

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine
Patient-focused education on sports injuries, recovery, and pediatric sports care.

American Medical Society for Sports Medicine
Evidence-based resources on sports injuries, injury prevention, PRP, and athlete care.

American Academy of Pediatrics
Trusted guidance on pediatric health, youth sports safety, and physical activity for children.

Healthy Children (AAP)
Parent-friendly website with child health information from the American Academy of Pediatrics

Exercise is Medicine
Science-backed information on using physical activity as prevention and treatment

Mayo Clinic
Easy-to-understand medical education on PRP, musculoskeletal injuries, and recovery expectations.

World Health Organization
Global perspective on physical activity, prevention, and public health impact.

American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine
Research-driven resources on sports injuries, biologics, and return-to-play principles.

Episode Transcript

[Dr Mike Patrick]
This episode of PediaCast is brought to you by the Sports Medicine Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital. 

[MUSIC]

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of PediaCast. We are a pediatric podcast for moms and dads.

This is Dr. Mike. I'm coming to you from the campus of Nationwide Children's Hospital. We're in Columbus, Ohio.

It's episode 601. We're calling this one Sports Injuries and Platelet-Rich Plasma for Student Athletes. I want to welcome all of you to the program.

We are so happy to have you with us. Platelet-Rich Plasma, also known as PRP, has been making headlines in the world of sports medicine. You've maybe heard about professional athletes getting injections to speed their recovery.

That's what this is. But what exactly is PRP or Platelet-Rich Plasma? How does it work?

And is Platelet-Rich Plasma appropriate for kids and teenagers? Well, we have answers to these questions, and we will answer many more as we journey through our podcast episode. And of course, in our usual PediaCast fashion, we do have a terrific guest joining us in the studio to discuss the topic.

It is Dr. Wisler Saint-Vil. He is a sports medicine physician here at Nationwide Children's Hospital. And because it's a sports medicine topic, Eric Leighton is back in the house.

He is an athletic trainer here at Nationwide Children's and he will be leading our discussion. Before we get to them, I do want to remind you the information presented in every episode of PediaCast is for general educational purposes only. We do not diagnose medical conditions or formulate treatment plans for specific individuals.

If you're concerned about your child's health, be sure to call your health care provider. Also, your use of this audio program is subject to the PediaCast Terms of Use Agreement, which you can find at PediaCast.org. So, let's take a quick break.

We'll get Dr. Wisler Saint-Vil settled into the studio. And then we will be back to talk about Platelet-Rich Plasma. It's coming up right after this.

[MUSIC]

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Dr. Wisler Saint-Vil is a sports medicine physician at Nationwide Children's Hospital and an assistant professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He has a passion for supporting student athletes and their families. This includes injury prevention and cutting-edge treatment for sports injuries, including the use of Platelet-Rich Plasma injections.

So, what exactly are Platelet-Rich Plasma injections? What is Platelet-Rich Plasma? How does it work?

Is it safe? And how would your child benefit from this treatment? Well, you are about to discover the answers to all of these questions and more.

But before we dive in, let's offer a warm PediaCast welcome to our guest, Dr. Wisler Saint-Vil. Thank you so much for visiting the studio today. 

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Thank you so much, Dr. Mike, for having me. 

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, we are really excited to talk about this. 

Eric Leighton is also in the house. You'll recall that he has served as host during several past episodes of PediaCast, in fact, including the last one on adaptive sports medicine.

These are usually episodes that focus on sports medicine topics. He is an athletic trainer at Nationwide Children's. Let's welcome him again to the program.

So glad you are here with us, Eric.

[Eric Leighton]
Thank you, Dr. Mike. We always appreciate any opportunity to come spend time with you in the studio.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, this is great. And two weeks in a row. We need to go to lunch after this.

So, with that, I will hand the reins over to you.

[Eric Leighton]
Thank you very much. And yeah, ladies and gentlemen, so we are definitely talking about PRP today, platelet-rich plasma, as Dr. Mike mentioned. But also, to get to know one of the latest members of our family.

We're very happy to have here in sports medicine, Dr. Wisler Saint-Vil. So, let's jump right into it. Let's get to know Dr. Saint-Vil. So, Dr. Saint-Vil, why don't you tell us a little bit about your background, you know, how your journey and where you came from and how you got into medicine.

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Perfect. Thank you, Eric, for having me here today. And I was born in Dundun, Haiti, Haiti, a part of the Caribbean.

I grew up in a resourceful, resource-limited community and education was everything for my family. I am the first of seven children. And very early, very early on, I understood that discipline and resilience will shape my future.

So that journey from Haiti to becoming a sports medicine physician in the United States deeply influences how I care for patients today. I speak English, Spanish, French, Haitian Creole and Italian as well. That makes a big difference on, like, how I see health care globally.

And also, being multilingual allows me to connect with patients on a deeper level. For those patients who speak those languages I speak, I don't need to use an interpreter. To get to where I am now, I attended medical school in Dominican Republic, more specifically in Santiago de los Caballeros.

After that, I came to the state. I completed all my training at Case Western Reserve University, both residency and fellowship.

[Eric Leighton]
Very nice. Yeah, I mean, definitely, you know, not the standard journey we get for a lot of our staff and our doctors that are here with us. But like you said, that adds so much, the whole global aspect and, you know, and understanding it from that other perspective.

So, all right. So, we got, you know, the starting, where you came from and some of your training. Then what took it forward?

So, for our families and parents out there who are learning this as they go through med school and people learn to specialize, they go into things called fellowships, which is a bit more intensive training. So, what led you to specialize in both pediatrics and sports medicine?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
I want to clarify a little bit. My fellowship was both adult and pediatric sports medicine. And the reason that I did sports medicine, first of all, I went to med school with every intent to become a sports medicine physician.

During my young age, I played soccer and my goal was to become a high-level pro soccer player. Unfortunately, that didn't happen the way that I wanted it to be due to recurrent injuries. And one of them was concussion.

And when I made that big decision to start playing soccer at a high level, the decision was to go and become a physician to take care of young athletes so I can help them to make their dream come true. So that's how I specialize in sports medicine.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah, it's pretty common. I tell a lot of the families and the kids and the people I talk to is pretty much everybody in this department. You'll find that we are current or former broke off, as we call it, athletes, people who have participated in sports and kind of how we found our way into it or, you know, where we began.

And then talking more about your fellowship. So, but you also had some of your other postings. So besides.

Yes. Case Western. Yes.

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
So, I'm doing fellowship. I had maybe the greatest opportunity to be a fellow physician for Cleveland Bonds to have that experience of covering a poor team and fellow physician for Case Western University. Kent State as well.

At the same time, taking care of many high schools in the Cleveland area. And, yeah, it was a great experience. And that's how I was able to get all the knowledge that I need now to take care of our youth, the athletes, the young athletes now tomorrow who will be the poor.

Yeah.

[Eric Leighton]
So, for those of you out there that are Cleveland Browns, you know, dog pound fans, we have one more right here in the office. So, you can always come see Dr. St. You had mentioned before the global aspect of medicine and in spite that you yourself are involved in global health and preventative medicine. How does that connect to sports medicine and what you do here?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
So basically, I will say the way that it is connected is I will say the person that I am, like where I grew up and what I wanted to do once I become the physician that I want to become, because I cannot forget where I came from. And the other reason that I went to medicine was to help people that I saw during my youth age suffering from different kind of illness. And that's why I like doing residency.

I started a nonprofit to go overseas doing mission trips, helping people with chronic diseases. And currently we have a chronic disease clinic in Haiti through Haitian Vision Foundation that I'm leading and where we take care of patients with hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy, providing medication on a monthly basis. And also based on given my mission, it's to like transform our society where we can have a healthier society.

Doing that at the global stage is extremely rewarding.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah, that equity across the world of being able to provide what not everybody has access to. That's yes, very important. Dr. Seville, we hear another term that we hear a lot, and we've heard is digital health. We hear that more and more. What does that mean?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Digital health basically is the use of technology to enhance patient care. This is something that I'm very passionate about. When I when I started working as an attending physician about five years ago, I saw that there was some kind of limitation that we have to overcome to actually provide or deliver the best health care to our patient.

And that's when I thought about developing a software help or to improve the way that we deliver sports medicine, we deliver wellness, fitness to our patient. I can tell you now that idea I had like five years ago is now it's now basically a reality because that software that I was thinking about five years ago now is launched and people can use it. Now, through that, my goal is basically to help people around the world to stay healthy through to physical activity and diet, like treating people, thinking about like integrative medicine, where we take care of basically everything, not just the problem patients, the problem patient face today.

But trying to find out the root cause of this problem and also help them to prevent those things to happen. And with digital health, health, you can do that remotely most of the time. And with my platform, we were able to implement through it something called Remote Therapeutic Monitoring, where you can prescribe exercises, diet, you can have your patients participating in challenge like step challenge, long distance challenge just to help them to stay healthy.

And it's been known that physical activity, going to a gym is very boring. So, and when you find a way to make that happen to make it fun, it can be it can be very, very sustainable. So, through digital health, instead of using our phone for like Facebook X, stuff like that, TikTok.

Now we can use our phone to access an app or software to help us to stay healthy.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah, no, you're right. Working out is definitely something that a lot of people struggle with, you know, that motivation trying to get there. But you're right.

I mean, that and that that digital access, you know, every tool has its ups and downs. And like you said, you know, we don't we're trying to as nice as it is to be connected, sitting there and doom scrolling, as they call it, or disappearing into your phone. But then the flip side of that is, yeah, you could use that as a tool now to get to them, to access them and to motivate them.

So as always, so you definitely have your hands in a lot of in a lot of places and a lot of effect. But that's what's so terrific about this. All right.

So now we you know, yeah, we know some of the background. We've met Dr. Saint-Vil and, you know, we know a little a little bit about what he is and what he's about. So, moving on kind of into the other part of our topic, regenerative medicine, what is it?

And we'll get more into detail on that. But then kind of a second part of that question, how does PRP or platelet rich plasma fit into that?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
First of all, like that question that you asked about, like regenerative medicine, why it is basically regenerative medicine is trying to use some kind of technologies or some kind of technique to help the body heal itself without any foreign body, without big surgery, stuff like that. One of the things that we use is the PRP stand for platelet rich plasma. This is the platelet rich plasma comes right from your blood.

OK, and your blood basically has four big different components. You have the red blood cells, the white blood cells. You have the platelet in the plasma.

The PRP, we get it when we draw your blood. It can be a small amount like it can be as little as 15 CC to up to 240 CC. That will depend on which kind of technology that you use.

And once we draw the blood, we will place it in the centrifuge to get the platelet rich plasma. So, we will get rid of the red blood cells. And in some situations, we might get rid of all the white blood cells.

If we want to get the PRP or leukocyte PRP, we might get rid of all the white blood cells. And these PRP will inject it to soft tissue where that will help the soft tissue to regenerate, to heal faster. The platelet itself contains growth factors that stimulate or that stimulate tissue repair.

Also, it contains some anti-inflammatory factors that can take care of inflammation. That's why PRP can be used for many musculoskeletal conditions.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah. So, kind of going right off that, that was actually my next question. What types of injuries can PRP be used for in sports medicine?

What are what are probably the common ones we would tackle with that?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Yeah, the common one will be tendinopathies. And to be a bit more specific there, it will be tendinosis. Pretty sure that people have heard a lot about tendinitis.

They know what tendinitis is. Tendinosis is the chronic version of tendinitis. Tendons are known to have very poor blood supply.

So, when you injure your tendon, when you have an injury, it takes time for the tendon to heal. And when it's healed most of the time, the healing process might not be proper. And you might end up with some scar tissue building up in the tendon.

So that's what that's what will convert to tendinosis. And at that point, you're not really dealing with an acute or inflammatory process. You are dealing with a chronic process.

You are dealing with a scar tissue building up in the tendon. And what you have to find is a way to have that tendon to heal properly, to regenerate. So, the PRP, through the growth factors it contains, can help the tendon to regenerate.

When we do the PRP, we always do some what you call tenotomy, some fenestration to the tendon. That will create like a healing inflammatory environment that will help the tendon to heal faster with the help of the PRP. Other conditions that we use the PRP for, we can use it for osteoarthritis in adult patients.

We can use it for some acute inflammation like IT band. Some patients do pretty well with that. And there's some research out there showing that PRP is very helpful for partial UCL tear.

We have some case about that. And hopefully soon we can start a study here to nationwide if PRP will help with OCD treatment.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah, I mean, so there's definitely a lot of uses for it. And as you were mentioning, so one thing that I have to explain to my patients as well when I'm doing rehab, as you mentioned that difference in blood flow. So different tissues of our body, our muscles, our tendons, as you mentioned, and cartilage, they all have a different level of blood flow.

And unfortunately, the cartilage and the tendons can be a little bit less or sometimes a lot less blood flow than the muscles. When you bruise a muscle, you see that big black and blue mark, you know, that blood constantly feeding in there. But the body then is resolving that bruise, that clotting by rinsing it through and constantly feeding it.

So, muscles tend to heal a little quicker. But as you mentioned, so yeah, this is where this comes in to help speed that up because it's just part of the part of the design. Unfortunately, that doesn't have as big of a blood flow.

So, I think, you know, knowing that great, knowing what it can do and the fact that it can help speed up a part of our body that naturally can take a little longer. But what should parents and people that might be considers, what should they know? What can't PRP do?

What should families avoid expecting?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
They should expect a quick recovery from PRP. So, your kid has patellar tendinosis, and we said that PRP can help with that. And you make that decision to get the procedure done.

Don't expect an overnight recovery, like in one week or two weeks, the kid will be 100 percent. Sometimes magic happens, but it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen all the time.

And given the mechanism of action of PRP, it tends to take at least a good six weeks or even more for the PRP to do its job to help that tendon to regenerate and heal properly. PRP won't really help with if you have a fracture, like let's suppose like you have a femur fracture. We will not use a PRP to take care of that.

We will do all the kind of things to help you out with that. But the most important thing, knowing that the recovery process is not that quick. And depending on where we do the injection, they might end up with some pain over the first 72 to 96 hours.

And that is due to the inflammatory process, which is a good sign that that tells us that the PRP is doing its job. Overall, I think that's pretty much it. What they have to know about PRP.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, we all want we're all guilty of it.

Us included. You know, we want the quick fix. We want the magic bullet.

You know, it's not a magic wand. He said, like you said, it may take up to six weeks, but with tendinosis, as he mentioned, which is the chronic version of tendonitis, it would have been longer anyway. So, you know, when it's working, it's going to speed up the process.

So, you know, unfortunately, no, I can't. We can't, you know, take you behind the scenes, give you the needle and boom, you're on the field in the next play. You know, it's not it's not that magic, but it is definitely speeding things up and helping.

So, I think you mentioned part of it. You mentioned some of that. But are there any more specifics of who's an appropriate candidate for PRP?

Is there a difference of who may or may not be a candidate, especially in pediatrics, since we're dealing with that here?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Yeah. Most there's a very small list of contraindications to PRP. First, to be a candidate, you have to have a condition that PRP is known to help with.

If you, for example, have some kind of blood cancer, you may not be a candidate for PRP. I have to the provider who's doing that have to talk with your hematologist to find out what their opinion is about that. And if you have any, any anti, any coagulation conditions like blood coagulation, blood conditions that affect the platelets, you may not be a good candidate for PRP.

Obviously, if I'm in the area where you, for example, if you are thinking about to have a PRP for with a curve tendinosis and in that at that area, you have an infectious process going on. You won't be a candidate for PRP until that until you take care of that infection. So those will be the main contraindication to PRP.

[Eric Leighton]
Gotcha. Yeah, just right. You know, just like just like any other procedure.

You know, when you think about it, you know, you certain things have to line up or be taken care of before you before you do that. Like, you know, when someone does surgery or anything else. So very important to know.

Now, PRP is being offered here at Nationwide Children's Hospital and in the sports medicine department. So, what should families know about the process, about how the appointments might work?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
The process, I will say, is straightforward. After a long time waiting for approval, working on things behind the scenes, we get it approved now. But now, once approved, the process is straightforward.

If we identify that you have a condition that can be treated by PRP, we'll discuss PRP with you, telling you the pros and cons of PRP and other alternatives that you can do to take care of that. And once both patients, physician, parents are on the same page, then we can easily schedule that, schedule the PRP. As I as you know, the PRP will involve some blood drawing.

And but overall, the process is very straightforward. Once we identify you, you accept to do the procedure. There are no big headaches to really be concerned about.

[Eric Leighton]
Now, so, I mean, is this all done in the same appointment? Is it they do the initial appointment, come back?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
If you, for example, let's suppose Dr. Mike refers a patient to me for possible PRP injection. I say possible PRP injection because until I see the patient, I cannot say it's a candidate for PRP. So that appointment, that first appointment will be for me to do my own assessment, my own evaluation to determine if patient is a candidate.

At that same appointment, if I determine patient is a candidate, I will discuss everything with the patient. And if we all are on the same page, they want to proceed. Then at that stage, we can schedule the PRP injection.

That can be in a week or two, depending on how on how on our availability.

[Eric Leighton]
Gotcha. Yeah. Right.

So, there's a couple of steps, like you said, there's the blood draw. And then, of course, has to get to the lab for the centrifugation.

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Yeah. So let me explain that a little bit better. When you come for PRP, same in my office, they will basically, we will draw the blood, and it will take about 15 minutes to get the PRP.

And after that, we will inject the PRP. So, it won't be you come today for the blood to draw the blood and next day you come back to get the injection. It's not that way.

The same day you come, we draw the blood and then we put in the centrifuge, get the PRP. And a few minutes later, once the PRP is done, we'll do the injection.

[Eric Leighton]
Great. Yeah. So, I think an important point, you know, parents would, you know, they love to know the fact that, you know, it's not a series of appointments.

Once, like you said, once you have your evaluation in your office and you can determine if they are candidates. Yeah. Once it's decided, it can be drawn and done the same day.

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Exactly.

[Eric Leighton]
That's great. Yeah, that's terrific. Great.

So, as we go forward from there, what other advice? So obviously with the PRP, but, you know, overarching, you know, as a sports medicine physician who's taking care of young athletes. What other advice do you have for young athletes and their parents?

What are things that you think they should be thinking about paying attention to?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Yeah, for young athletes, prevention is key. And me, for a physician, I prefer preventing conditions instead of treating them. Of course, we are all well equipped to treat those MSK conditions or sports related condition.

But I prefer when we can do things to prevent them. I always advise my young athletes to do strength training and with proper supervision, which is extremely important. And also, to avoid specializing in one sport too early.

That is, we have seen that is one of one of the biggest risk factors for young athletes to end up with multiple injuries at a very early age. So, I always advise them to specialization. It's always important for them to balance performance with growth and also recovery.

I want them to know that sleep does matter. Nutrition does matter. And rest does matter.

And one example I always give them to show them how rest is important. I show them that that's why, for example, NFL, we don't have it year long. It will be basically like just four, four to six months during the year that we'll have NFL in the season.

And those poor athletes, they will have enough time to rest and to recover for the next season. So, imagine a young athlete playing nonstop, not taking even one month break. That won't be good on the body, and they will end up with tons of overused injuries that can affect their career.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah. One thing we've definitely discussed a lot, I think across our whole department, we very much believe in that in that method and that that theory of all of that. The one of the things that not only is the body get worn out, the muscles, the tendons, but also your nerve tissue can also get tired, get fried.

Yeah, I quite often, you know, repeat to my parent, my patients and parents all the time about needing rest, hydrating. You know, I tell them all the time, listen, you have to hydrate in January and February here just almost as bad as you do in August when we're sweating outside the summer here because we dry out. Another comparison I make like you like you mentioned the NFL.

So, besides some of the traditional athletics that we all think of that I work with, I also specialize and work with performing arts. So, I work with a lot of dancers. And one of the things I always have to remind a lot of the dancers and the dance parents, you know, I'll ask them, I say, hey, what happens in New York?

What happens on Broadway every Monday? And they sit there in the Hammond Hall for a second and they realize like, oh, yeah, but Broadway closes down. I'm like, that's right.

And these are professional dancers who aren't developing anymore. They take a day off. I said, the rest is part of the workout.

It's how you feed yourself, how you recover, how you stretch, how you prepare, how you hydrate, how you fuel your system. And sleep is part of that. It's a 24-7 cycle.

Yeah. So, one other thing that we had in our notes that I didn't get to, or I skipped over really quick, but I think I want to mention to the families out there and the parents who may be interested. So, Dr. Saint-Vil is also the author of a book titled Exercise, the Best Health Insurance. You tell us a little bit about that.

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Yeah. So, this book, actually, I can say is a dream come true. Given my vision, what I want to accomplish, what really makes me happy, I wanted to leave something for the society, something that they can use to stay healthy, to know what to do, to prevent, to come to see me too often.

And through this book, Exercise, the Best Health Insurance, I think I did that. This book with the motivational tone there is to actually show people how important it is to stay healthy. At the end of the day, we have just one body where we can live and we need to take care of that.

We have to make sure that we keep that body active. We watch our diet so we can prevent chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, can prevent hyperlipidemia. And also, exercise is like one of the best antidepressants that I have known.

And nowadays that the world is crazy and everyone's stressed out and we don't know what to do. But one good antidepressant that you can take is exercise. It's free and most of the time with no side effect, basically.

And the way that I show people through that book, that exercise is the best health insurance. Not because if you exercise, you won't need to have your health insurance. Of course.

You still need it, but exercise will prevent you from seeing a doctor every three months. Let's suppose you have uncontrolled diabetes. You might even need to see your physician every two months, every three months.

Exercise will save you time and money. And those big insurance companies, they have a way to actually determine what they will charge you for your premium insurance. Based on what you're eating, they know what you eat.

They know your habits, your lifestyle, basically. So, in this book, I show them how exercise can help you save money, stay healthy and live better.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah, I think we've all heard, you know, in the past, whether it was in a movie or a TV show or just the old trope, whether you're actually speaking insurance companies, you know, they may get mad about quote unquote preexisting conditions. Like you said, they may charge you differently. But same thing goes when you're exercising and doing the right thing to keep your body healthy.

And let's face it, it's better for you, but it doesn't cost them money. But I mean, ultimately, yeah, it is better for you. And as you mentioned to Dr. Saint-Vil about how much of an antidepressant and mood lifter that is. Personally, a couple of the big things I do, and I can't wait because it's coming up here real soon. I'm a skier. I'm actually going.

I am going back to the place I learned how to ski 37 years ago, and I absolutely can't wait. So that there's to me, nothing is better than standing on top of an alpine mountain and looking down all that snow. But then through the summer, I am always out on the water paddle boarding.

And again, great exercise, but just, you know, peaceful. And again, you get away from everything. I just absolutely love that.

So, yes, exercise. And we know, you know what? We kind of joke about it.

I've been telling some people, I'm like, hey, listen, if you're looking to pick up some exercise equipment, all the New Year's resolutionists are probably selling their stuff at Play It Again Sports right now. So instead of hanging your clothes on that new treadmill you got. But it does.

It could take a while, right? You know, some people, it takes a while to get over that, get over the hump and get into the point where the exercise starts to feel good. But it is so worth it.

All right. We've talked about a lot of great stuff. We've gotten to know Dr. Saint-Vil and his journey and how we got here and a bit of who he is and what he does. Definitely about PRP. So, I got one last question for you as we wrap up here, Dr. Saint-Vil. What excites you the most about the future of sports medicine?

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
So, what excites me the most is because of the way that me personally is actually trying to change the health care landscape. And to me, like the future of health care and specifically sports medicine is personalized and preventive. So, we want to make sure what we are doing, the way that we are treating our patients, we individualize them and help them to stay healthy.

Of course, telling them about how important it is to have that annual wellness. But help them to find the way instead of them struggling all the time with curing diseases, help them to prevent them. And as I previously said, personalize their care.

That's how I see the future. And also, when combining data, biologics and technology to optimize recovery and performance, we can have a way healthier society. Knowing that movement should be prescribed like medicine.

We are not doing that enough as health care providers. We prescribe more medication than exercise, than diet. It should be the opposite.

Before we think about this medication, that medication, we think first about how we can help our patients. Patients change their lifestyle, move more, watch their diet to prevent using that many pills, that much medication. And doing that definitely will change the landscape of our health care infrastructure.

And we will create that awareness that we need that to help people to take better care of themselves.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah, definitely. I think another phrase we've heard often is exercise is medicine. So, you know, get your body moving.

You don't have to strap on, you know, wax sticks like I do and throw yourself headlong down a mountain. But just get out, get out, move, grab that old bike out of the garage and tune it up that you haven't used in years. You know, obviously the kids are out there playing.

We're dealing with kids that are very active. And it's good to be active, you know, between their sports seasons. Still be active, but maybe not something competitive 365 days a year.

As Dr. Saint-Vil said, a very important component to all of that is the recovery, the rest. You need the hard work, but you need the rest to turn that hard work into a positive. All right, Dr. Saint-Vil, I think we've covered the gamut here and really gotten to know you. So, speaking personally, and I think I can easily speak for our department here in sports medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital. We are so happy, so lucky to have Dr. Saint-Vil with us here on our staff. His knowledge, his passion and the new technologies he's bringing forward that are going to benefit everyone.

So, thank you so much, Dr. Saint-Vil. I appreciate you being here with us today. Thank you so much, Eric.

Thank you so much, Dr. Mike. Yeah, and I'm going to throw it back to Dr. Mike now.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
So, such an interesting conversation on platelet-rich plasma. And of course, learning more about you, Dr. Saint-Vil, we're really excited that you are here in Columbus. And it's really an innovative treatment.

And I think a lot of parents may, this may be the first time that they're hearing about it. And so that's really exciting for our audience as well. One pressing question that I still have, and this is for you, Eric.

Where did you learn to ski? Oh my gosh.

[Eric Leighton]
Well, literally I saw, I learned how to ski at Heavenly, Heavenly Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe. So, this was during active duty in the Navy. We were out there for maneuvers for a couple of weeks, and we took off for the weekend.

And I basically got to the top of the hill and my roommate who had skied varsity his whole life, put his hand on my back and pointed downhill and said, I want you to go that way really fast. Yeah. If something gets in your way, turn and kind of gave me a little shove.

So, but yeah, that's where I learned.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah. I, you know, I was in ski club in high school and here I grew up in central Ohio, and we would go to Mad River Mountain.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
But surprisingly, the person who taught me how to ski was an Olympic silver medalist in Slalom. Like back in the day. I mean, it was probably in the seventies when she won her silver medal.

She taught me how to ski. So, I haven't skied in way too long. And my son this winter was just saying like, we need to go skiing again.

And it's been a great snow year for the skiing. I mean, the little resorts that we have here in Ohio.

[Eric Leighton]
Yeah, it definitely has been better than it has for a while. But yeah, I can't wait. We usually get out west a lot.

So luckily, I have family in Colorado. So, I get to go out there.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Oh, that is fun. That is really fun. Well, we are going to have lots of resources for folks.

You know, earlier in the conversation, Dr. Saint-Vil talked about digital health and how important it is to find resources that you trust, resources that are going to give you evidence-based information. Because there is a lot of misinformation and myths and, you know, stories of, oh, this happened to my. But, you know, it's not necessarily based in evidence.

You know, things can be associated in time, but not necessarily one causes the other. And so, you really want that caveat. And, you know, folks who are giving you information that really understand science.

So, we do have some examples as relates to sports medicine. The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine is a great site. Of course, the American Academy of Pediatrics and their sub-site healthychildren.org are very trustworthy. Of course, the sports medicine website at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Definitely. You can definitely trust that one.

Exercises Medicine is a site that gives science-backed information on using physical activity as prevention and treatment, which is something that Dr. Saint-Vil talked about and is just so very important. The Mayo Clinic is a great site. We also have the World Health Organization, the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine.

All of those things we will have in the show notes over at PDAcast.org for this particular episode. So be sure to check that out. So once again, Dr. Wisler, Saint-Vil, thank you so much for stopping by today. 

[Dr Wisler Saint-Vil]
Thank you for having me. 

[Dr Mike Patrick]
And Eric, always a pleasure. Thank you so much for leading the conversation.

[Eric Leighton]
Thanks, Dr. Mike. Yeah, it's always a lot of fun to be here and be able to hang out with you.

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[Dr Mike Patrick]
We are back with just enough time to say thanks once again to all of you for taking time out of your day and making PediaCast a part of it. We really do appreciate your support. And thanks again to our guest this week, Dr. Wisler, Saint-Vil with Sports Medicine at Nationwide Children's. And thanks again to Eric Leighton. He's an athletic trainer here for guiding the conversation. Really always appreciate when he helps out with the show.

Don't forget, you can find PediaCast wherever podcasts are found. We're in the Apple Podcast app, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Audible, YouTube, and most other podcast apps for iOS and Android. Our landing site is pdacast.org.

You will find our entire archive of past programs there, all 601 of them. And show notes for each of the episodes, our terms of use agreement, and that handy contact page if you would like to suggest a future topic for the program. You know, with 601 episodes, we have covered just about everything you can imagine in pediatrics.

And, you know, many things multiple times. So definitely take advantage of that archive. The older the program is, there may be newer information.

And so, try to find the newest one on a particular topic. And if it's been a few years since we have covered something, again, use that contact page and let us know what you would like to hear about. Reviews are helpful wherever you get your podcasts.

We always appreciate when you share your thoughts about the show. And we love connecting with you on social media. We are on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, X, and Blue Sky.

Simply search for PediaCast. A couple of other podcasts that I host that you may be interested in. One is similar to this program.

We do turn the science up a couple notches and offer free continuing medical education credit for those who listen. It's called PediaCast CME. The CME stands for continuing medical education.

So that one, you know, we don't use plain language as much and we really get into the thick of things, sometimes the weeds. But if you're interested in topics with a little bit more detail, a little more sciency, be sure to check that one out. And if you are a physician or a nurse practitioner, physician assistant, nurse, pharmacist, psychologist, social worker, dentist, for all of you folks, that particular podcast does offer free category one continuing medical education.

And so, it's likely we offer the credits you need to fulfill your state's continuing medical education requirements. Shows and details are available at the landing site for that program, which is PediacastCME.org. And then you can also listen wherever podcasts are found.

Just search for PediaCast CME. And then I also host FAMEcast. This one's a faculty development podcast from the Center for Faculty Advancement, Mentoring, and Engagement at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

So, if you are a teacher in academic medicine or a faculty member in any of the health sciences, then this is a podcast for you. And you can find FAMEcast at FameCast.org and wherever podcasts are found by simply searching for FAMEcast. Thanks again for stopping by.

And until next time, this is Dr. Mike saying stay safe, stay healthy, and stay involved with your kids. So long, everybody.

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