Orthopedic Care in Friendship Heights, Maryland

Friendship Heights sits exactly on the DC-Maryland line along Wisconsin Avenue, a dense, walkable, transit-connected corridor that runs from Mazza Gallerie and Chevy Chase Pavilion north into Bethesda. The community is unusual in Montgomery County for its density — high-rise residential buildings, condo towers, and a substantial population of professionals, federal-government retirees, and active midlife adults who chose this area specifically for the combination of urban convenience and proximity to the Maryland suburbs. The orthopedic problems we see from Friendship Heights reflect that population: rotator cuff disease in active midlife tennis and golf players from Columbia and Edgemoor; tennis elbow and golfer's elbow; knee and hip osteoarthritis in patients who want to keep walking the Wisconsin Avenue corridor and playing recreational sport; lumbar and cervical spine pain; and the foot and ankle overuse problems that come with daily long walks on city sidewalks.

Maryland Orthopedic Specialists is one of the closest subspecialty orthopedic options to Friendship Heights — approximately eight minutes north up Wisconsin Avenue. Our Bethesda office at 6710-A Rockledge Drive is the surgical home, offering full clinical capability: physician consultations, on-site X-ray and ultrasound, PRP and biologic injections, casting, durable medical equipment, and a fluoroscopy procedure room. There is a parking garage attached to the building, which is a meaningful convenience for patients accustomed to the parking complexity of denser corridors. For post-operative and sports rehabilitation, our Rockville physical therapy facility at 1071 Seven Locks Road is roughly fifteen minutes northwest and is the dedicated MOS rehab home.

The injury profile from Friendship Heights leans toward active midlife and older adult orthopedics. We see a high volume of rotator cuff disease — both partial-thickness tears that respond well to non-surgical management when caught early, and full-thickness tears that benefit from arthroscopic repair with biologic augmentation. We see tennis elbow and golfer's elbow regularly, particularly in patients who play frequently at Columbia, Chevy Chase Club, Edgemoor, or in the regional USTA league. Knee and hip osteoarthritis are common — and in this active population, the conversation is typically about how to keep playing tennis, pickleball, and golf for as long as possible, with appropriate non-operative care first and modern rapid-recovery joint replacement when the time comes. Plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinopathy, and chronic foot and ankle overuse problems are common in patients who walk substantial distances daily.

The cultural expectation in Friendship Heights is responsive, no-friction subspecialty access. Patients here are accustomed to direct communication with their physicians and to seamless coordination with their primary care practices, including the concierge practices common in this corridor. We work that way intentionally. Same-day and next-day appointments are routinely available for acute injuries; most non-acute consultations are scheduled within a week; and on-site imaging at the Bethesda office means most first visits end with a clear diagnosis and a treatment plan in hand.

Our sports medicine team — Dr. Christopher Raffo, Dr. John Christoforetti, and Dr. James Gardiner — together handles shoulder, knee, and general sports medicine cases from Friendship Heights. Dr. Gardiner brings more than 30 years of practice experience. Common procedures for Friendship Heights patients include rotator cuff repair (with or without biologic augmentation like Regeneten), meniscus repair, ACL reconstruction, and arthroscopic shoulder stabilization with labral repair for shoulder instability and SLAP/Bankart labral tears. Dr. Christoforetti's hip preservation practice handles all arthroscopic labral repair, FAI correction, and joint-preserving osteotomies — important for active midlife patients with longstanding hip and groin pain that has been undiagnosed for years. For hand, wrist, and elbow injuries common in tennis players, golfers, and desk-bound professionals, Dr. Peter Fitzgibbons offers fellowship-trained upper-extremity care, including carpal tunnel, trigger finger, and thumb-base arthritis. Dr. Gary Feldman handles foot and ankle problems — plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinopathy, bunions, ankle instability, and the foot mechanics issues common in patients who walk substantial distances every day.

Most of what we do for Friendship Heights patients is non-operative — image-guided injection, structured physical therapy at our Rockville facility, biomechanical correction, activity modification. When surgery is the right answer, modern arthroscopic and rapid-recovery protocols are designed to return patients to walking, tennis, golf, and recreational sport quickly.