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Sports & Orthopedic Specialists, a community-based sports and athletic medicine practice, has been helping athletes recover from injuries since 2007.
Dr. Craig H. Weinstein, MD, MPH, who started the practice near Gilbert Mercy Hospital, specializes in shoulder, elbow, and knee injuries.
The world-class training Dr. Weinstein, and those he works with, received has allowed them to treat athletes from adults to adolescents, including many professional athletes.
“Our joy, our passion in the world is bringing that level of care down to the middle school and high school athletes who live, work, and go to schools in the community that we live and work in,” Dr. Weinstein recently told the Ledger.
When Sports & Orthopedic Specialist opened in 2007, it was the only medical practice in the southeast valley that was dedicated exclusively to sports and athletic medicine, a claim that holds true today.
Since that time, Dr. Weinstein has provided treatment to many high school athletes at different high schools, including Queen Creek High School, a school he’s been associated with since the inception of Sports & Orthopedic Specialists.
“I think we were one of the few games in town, back then,” Dr. Weinstein said. “But I’d like to think over the years, as the medical community has built up in Queen Creek, that we still enjoy a measure of success because we have provided good service to the community.”
His familiarity with Queen Creek, its athletic programs, and the growing community has assisted in developing relationships with patients and their families. He can recall providing treatment to an athlete years ago and now might be providing care for a younger sibling.
Many of the practice’s referrals come from within Queen Creek and San Tan Valley.
“(Families) tend to stay within the community,” he said. “That lets us get to know them on a deeper level.”
A regular at many Queen Creek sporting events, Dr. Weinstein enjoys attending Bulldogs’ games, meeting people, reconnecting with past patients, and feeling a part of the school and its teams.
In most cases, when an athlete suffers an injury, it’s their goal to return to performing at the highest level and at least equivalent to the level they were at pre-injury. Whatever an athlete’s goal might be, Dr. Weinstein shares the same aspiration.
With advances in treatment and care, Dr. Weinstein says it’s rare that any injury is truly career-ending.
He admits fixing more than the injury is part of the joy in assisting athletes.
“Part of the joy of sports medicine, for me, is getting to deal with not just a patient, but a student athlete and often the parents,” he said. “There is an interaction with the patient, the parents, the team, and the coaches, which includes what that next level may or may not be.”
Sports & Orthopedic Specialists is located at 3487 S. Mercy Road in Gilbert. Please visit www.sossportsmed.com for additional information about the practice and its providers.
Dr. Craig Weinsten, MD, MPH
Sports & Orthopedic Specialists
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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