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Kurt P. Spindler, MD

Swing, spin, hit, jump, twist, pivot — the knee is key to success in any sport.

When players ask too much of their knees, Kurt Spindler, MD, head team physician for Vanderbilt University's NCAA Division I varsity athletes, is the go-to guy for joints, especially knees and shoulders.

Athletic injuries to the knee usually involve the MCL (medial collateral ligament), the tendon on the outside of the knee joint, or the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), located inside the joint.

Since the 1980s and '90s, surgical techniques to repair knee injuries have been largely successful, but an increasing number of patients develop osteoarthritis in the decade following knee surgeries, especially those involving the ACL.

"Studies show that tears to the MCL heal very nicely, but the unique process inherent to the repair of the ACL reveals that there is a very toxic environment inside the knee joint," Spindler said.

He wants to find out if there are ways of predicting or anticipating arthritis post-surgery with the same level of accuracy as accepted predictors for heart disease or strokes. As the lead investigator for MOON (Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network), Spindler will be using data collected from ACL surgeries in orthopaedic centers across the country.

The MOON study has a four year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to look at data from an estimated 3,000 patients who have undergone unilateral ACL reconstruction surgery in seven surgical centers around the country: VUMC, Ohio State University, Cleveland Clinic, Hospital for Special

Surgery in New York, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Iowa, and the University of Colorado.

Investigators will be seeking to determine the structural and functional characteristics of the knee two years after reconstruction surgery, the aspects of the original injury and repair, and which patient characteristics are risk factors for developing osteoarthritis following ACL surgery. Information concerning risk factors available at the time of surgery include patient characteristics, age, gender, body mass index, activity level, clinical knee alignments, whether a "pop" is heard at the time of injury, concurrent meniscus, articular cartilage or collateral ligament injuries and treatment decisions made during the initial surgery.

"Our ultimate goal is to develop an equation to determine at the time of surgery what a person's risk profile is to developing arthritis," Spindler said.

With this information, surgeons can counsel patients to avoid actions that would lead to the development of arthritis in the knees. This is particularly important because so many young athletes suffer knee injuries.

Spindler observed, "What stops young people or athletes from playing sports is the development of arthritis in their knees." He explained, "We can fix ligament instabilities and remove loose bodies in the knee, but when they wear away the articular surface, which leads to the development of arthritis, we have no cure for that."

Spindler knows about young athletes. He grew up playing every sport available on the fields of Hasbrook Heights, New Jersey. He graduated with a BA in Biology and highest honors from Rutgers University and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in Philadelphia.

He did his internship and residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and a Sports Fellowship/Orthopaedics Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic.

At Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Spindler is currently the Kenneth D. Schermerhorn Professor of Orthopaedics, holding an endowed professorship given in honor of Nashville's late maestro, a former patient. He is also Vice-Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and Director of the Vanderbilt Sports Medicine Center and the Orthopaedic Patient Care Center.

Spindler is a familiar site on game days as he roams the sidelines of every Commodore football game and is equally at home at McGugin Center.

Early in his studies he knew where he wanted to focus his medical career.

"I knew I wanted to do research, and I knew I wanted to be a surgeon because I wanted to take care of the whole spectrum of evaluation, injury, surgical treatment and rehabilitation, and I knew I wanted to work with high-level athletes."

Working with athletes, he said, "really sharpens skills, because your margin of error in getting them better is really small. The bar at which you have to practice and the level of detail is much higher with these athletes. There's a sense of urgency and 90 percent is no good. They can't perform at 90 percent; they'll lose. So if you can treat elite athletes, you learn the best operations, the best skills and technique and you can apply them to the rest of your patients."

Spindler also enjoys family activities with his wife Teresa, his high school sweetheart, and their children Eric, who will be a sophomore at UT, and Kelsey, a high school junior.

Always physically active, he enjoys running, biking, working out at the Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute's fitness center … and has competed in a few marathons just for good measure. He said he makes time for exercise because it's great for your energy level and for stress relief — and it lets you eat more!

Spindler, who enjoys flying in the Vanderbilt Sport Medicine hot air balloon, and watching sporting events around the country, has landed in the perfect spot for his ideal job — one that combines academics, patient care and working with high performance athletes.

"I'm one of those fortunate people who love what I do for a living," he said.

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