Timothy McGuine, PhD, a distinguished scientist in the Division of Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation. Photo: Bryce Richter

Each year, the University of Wisconsin–Madison recognizes outstanding academic staff members who have excelled in leadership, public service, research and teaching. Timothy McGuine is one of those exceptional individuals who brings the university’s mission to life and ensures that the Wisconsin Idea extends far beyond the campus and the state.

April 26, 2024 – Timothy McGuine, PhD, began his career as an athletic trainer and remains one at heart. His “on the sidelines” expertise imbues everything he researches, contributing to his national reputation as an expert on injury prevention in adolescent athletes.

McGuine’s 81 peer-reviewed papers address some of the most pressing issues facing young sports participants, from reducing concussions and ankle injuries to the efficacy of football helmets and soccer headgear.

Recently, he took a leading role in researching the impact of youth sports participation on overall health during the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming among the first to present on this emerging topic.

One of McGuine’s most important contributions has come in the standard he has set for clinical field research. His multi-site studies take place at the point of injury and at the point of care. McGuine’s studies also have had a profound impact on professional clinical practice — one ankle injury and balance intervention study, for example, has been cited over 1,500 times.

“Tim is nationally recognized for his contributions to adolescent sports medicine, which grew out of his background as an athletic trainer. His models have set new standards for research, and his widely cited work has informed safety policy in high school sports. Tim founded the Wisconsin Sports Injury Research Network, which partners with schools around the state to gather data on athletic training interventions that’s led to some important innovations — for example, he has conducted the largest injury prevention studies for sports injuries ever undertaken in his profession — resulting in new strategies used by medical providers across the country.

The working relationships Tim has developed with schools have helped him advance discovery on other health challenges, like researching the impact of youth sports participation on overall health during the Covid-19 pandemic. And his service on national medical advisory committees for high school sports brings a valuable research perspective to policy decisions.”

– Jennifer Mnookin, PhD, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison

“Dr. McGuine has crisscrossed the state, time and time again, putting thousands of miles on his car in an effort to educate high school athletes, their parents, athletic directors and athletic trainers regarding his population-based studies and the impact they would have on the participants and on the lives of others.”

– Tamara A. Scerpella, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation

Excerpted and adapted from an article that originally appeared on news.wisc.edu.

We are thrilled to announce our new class of outstanding Orthopedic Surgery and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residents (our first class of four since our PM&R program’s complement increase!).

(Click images to enlarge.)

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Congratulations and welcome to the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation family!

Linda Canfield never thought that her first attempt at playing pickleball would end with a 90-mile ambulance ride to UW Health University Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, followed by an orthopedic trauma surgery the next day.

In August 2022, the St. Paul, Minnesota resident, two college friends, and their husbands ventured to Galena, Illinois for a summer weekend getaway. On that hot Saturday afternoon, Linda, then 64, decided to give pickleball a try. With paddles in hand, Linda, one friend, and her husband began hitting the ball around the court.

“We were almost finished, and I remember running laterally across the court,” Linda recalled. “My legs got awkwardly wrapped around each other, and in an instant, I fell to the ground. I heard a pop and knew right away that I had broken something, and it was probably my hip.”

Unable to move, Linda lay on the court while friends called 911.

“I remember the siren blowing as I was lying there in pain, sweating and swearing to myself,” Linda said. “The court surface was scorching hot. The EMTs were asking lots of questions so they could decide what to do before moving me.”

Eventually, the crew safely moved Linda into the ambulance before taking her to the local hospital. X-rays would show that the break was not a simple one. Linda would need to go to a larger hospital with greater orthopedic expertise. The next closest larger hospital was 15 miles away in Dubuque, Iowa, but it was full.

Husband advocated for UW Health

Linda’s husband, Jim Thornton, who earned his master’s degree at UW–Madison, strongly urged the EMT crew to transport Linda to UW Health in Madison..”

“I just felt in my heart that with all of the good surgeons there and Madison being a leading trauma center, UW would be the best place,” Jim recalled.

As Linda’s ambulance departed for Madison, Jim followed behind in his car; they arrived at University Hospital early that evening. Surgery to repair Linda’s bone break took place the following day.

“I remember the orthopedic surgical team preparing me. They all made me feel I was in very capable hands,” Linda said. “They even asked me what kind of music I liked, so after I told them, they put some Carrie Underwood on.”

A native of Rochester, Minnesota, Linda recalled talking to her mother on the phone from her hospital bed in Madison.

“My 90-year-old mother still lives in Rochester and suggested that I come to the Mayo Clinic,” Linda said. “Of course, I was in no position at this point to come to Rochester. I told my mom that my UW Health surgeon was named Dr. Paul Whiting and she Googled him.

“After she discovered that Dr. Whiting went to Harvard Medical School, she was satisfied that I was in good hands,” Linda said. “Dr. Whiting got a big laugh out of that story.

Fracture was just below the hip 

While casually described as a broken hip, Linda actually broke the uppermost portion of her left femur, the bone that runs straight from the knee to the hip. Surgeons call her break a subtrochanteric femur fracture.

“Linda was fortunate that the hip joint itself was not broken, so she was able to keep her native hip,” said Dr. Whiting.

“We repaired Linda’s fracture by making an incision and inserting a 15-inch titanium rod inside the hollow part of the femur,” said Dr. Whiting. “We secured the rod, which is about one-half inch thick, with screws above and below the fracture. This provides rotational stability and durability while the fracture heals. Because the rod is placed inside the bone, patients generally don’t experience any hardware irritation.”

Although the natural healing process is not complete until three to six months after surgery, patients with Linda’s type of repair can bear full weight on the leg right away because this type of surgical construct provides such excellent stability. After five nights in the hospital, Linda was discharged to go home.

Grateful for so many caring experts

Linda and Jim appreciated everyone involved in her care, including Dr. Whiting, the orthopedic nurses, physical therapists, and other staff.

“I was so impressed with everyone, from Dr. Whiting, who was so personable, to the fellow who cleaned my room to the person who brought my food tray,” Linda said. “A lot of folks complain about this or that when they’re in the hospital, but I think it’s important to thank all of these kind people who do such a great job.”

Knowing that Linda would prefer to receive follow-up care close to home, Dr. Whiting referred her to a St. Paul-based orthopedic trauma surgeon who had done his residency at UW Health.

“By six months after surgery, I was feeling like my old self,” Linda said. “Last year, we traveled to Hawaii, Texas, Olympic National Park in Washington State, and Europe, where I walked up hills and on uneven sidewalks. Some of my companions even had a hard time keeping up with me.”

For Dr. Whiting and his team, people like Linda are exactly why they do what they do.

“With our extensive experience, training, and the latest technology, our goal at UW Health is to help our patients get back to doing the things they enjoy, whether it’s playing pickleball, tennis, running, or walking,” said Dr. Whiting. “When we can achieve that, we’ve hit a home run.

This story originally appeared on uwhealth.org.

This fall, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Christopher Brace, PhD, UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) associate professor, Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, and Kenneth Noonan, MD, MHCDS, professor, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, a five-year, $3 million R01 grant for a research project that aims to revolutionize the treatment of limb-length discrepancy (LLD) – a common disability in which one leg is longer than the other.

Small differences in leg lengths affect roughly 23% of the world’s population. For children with moderate (3-5 cm) LLD, surgical removal of a growth plate – a painful procedure performed with drills and mechanical scraping – is the current gold standard treatment. However, with this method, these young patients require significant pain medicine and experience an arduous six-week recovery before they can fully bear weight on the affected limb. This extended healing period poses physical and psychological challenges for pediatric patients and their families. Further, the procedure is associated with complications, including incomplete growth arrest, angular deformity, bleeding, and the risk of infection.

In a groundbreaking effort to develop a less invasive, more efficient LLD treatment, Dr. Brace, principal investigator (PI), and Dr. Noonan, the project’s co-PI, are turning to microwave ablation, a method that is well tolerated and already being used successfully to treat malignant and benign tumors throughout the body.

The team’s preliminary studies in animals employed this minimally invasive technique to slow the growth plate by delivering microwave energy via a small probe. Early data demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach when using clinical microwave tumor ablation systems to treat laboratory animals with LLD.

The next phase of their research will focus on developing more optimal devices and techniques to arrest bone growth using precise microwave heating. The team is working on directional antennas that target microwave energy to the growth plate while minimizing collateral damage. They will also employ dynamic positioning and multi-applicator techniques to enhance the precision of energy delivery, ensuring complete and uniform growth arrest.

Ultimately, the goal of this study is to refine the probes that would eventually be used to control bone growth in children, assess the safety and efficacy of these optimized tools and techniques, and compare their application with the current approach of surgical drilling in various regions, including the distal femur, proximal tibia, and fibula.

If successful, these developments and studies would transform the treatment of LLD in children by offering an innovative and exciting alternative to traditional surgical procedures that would significantly improve the lives of young patients who experience this challenging medical condition.

“Our team believes that this methodology will become the standard of care for the treatment of limb-length discrepancy in children within five to ten years,” says Dr. Noonan. “We also feel that this technology could be used to correct other skeletal deformity such as bowed legs and even scoliosis.”

In February 2023, during the early stages of their research, the team received essential funding via a Freedom of Movement Fund Grant from the UW SMPH Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, enabling them to expand their microwave ablation experience to the femur – proving indications and methods in the more powerful femoral growth plate. Department Vice Chair for Research Bryan Heiderscheit, PhD, PT, notes that this project is “an excellent example of the valuable research conducted by our faculty and the important role that early support from the Freedom of Movement Fund has in making that research possible.”

The research reported in this article was supported by the National Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01AR082375. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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UW Orthopedics Trauma Team – L to R: Christopher Domes, MD, Paul Whiting, MD, Gabrielle Kuhn, MD (former Ortho Trauma research coordinator), Christopher Doro, MD, Gerald Lang, MD, and Jacquelyn Dunahoe, MD

Earlier this fall, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s orthopedic trauma research team, led by Paul Whiting, MD, received the Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium (METRC) “Implementation and Data Quality All-Star Award”. The award was announced and presented at the Orthopedic Trauma Association’s 39th Annual Meeting held in Seattle, Washington, on October 19-21, 2023.

Established in 2009, METRC represents a large multi-center research collaborative. As part of the METRC network, dozens of major trauma centers nationwide participate in large-scale research projects aimed at improving outcomes following orthopedic trauma injuries in both the civilian and military populations.

The UW team’s METRC All-Star Award was given in recognition of the team’s “exemplary efforts to implement METRC studies with fidelity to the protocol, well-established and thoughtful local procedures, and clear attention to data completeness and data quality.”

UW has been a participating site for more than a decade and, to date, has been a part of more than ten METRC studies. Patients undergoing treatment for a variety of orthopedic trauma injuries are eligible for participation. These patients are screened and enrolled by the UW orthopedic trauma faculty members and the team’s research coordinator. Outcome data are recorded following surgical treatment and at regularly scheduled follow-up visits. Maintaining the highest level of data integrity, ensuring high rates of follow-up, and accurate data collection are critical to the success of this research consortium.

UW is proud to be an active participant in METRC and honored to be recognized for our efforts.