Orthopedic Care in Kensington, Maryland

Kensington has a small-town character that surprises people the first time they drive down Howard Avenue past Antique Row. The Old Town historic district, the close-knit Kemp Mill community, and the surrounding suburban neighborhoods along Connecticut Avenue make this one of the more residential, family-anchored corners of Montgomery County. The sports culture is built around the public schools — Walter Johnson, Albert Einstein, Kensington Parkwood, Newport Mill — and around the youth soccer, baseball, basketball, and lacrosse programs that run year-round at local fields and at Rock Creek Park facilities. The Capital Crescent Trail and Rock Creek Park's running, cycling, and equestrian paths run right through the area, drawing a steady population of adult athletes from the morning-run, weekend-cyclist, and weekend-warrior set.

Maryland Orthopedic Specialists is approximately ten minutes from most of Kensington. Our Bethesda office at 6710-A Rockledge Drive is the surgical home for Kensington patients — a quick drive south on Connecticut Avenue and west on Beach Drive or East-West Highway. It offers the full surgical workup capability: physician consultations, on-site X-ray and ultrasound, PRP and biologics, casting, durable medical equipment, and a fluoroscopy procedure room. 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. Many Kensington patients move easily between the two locations, with the same surgical team coordinating the plan from initial evaluation through return to activity.

The injury profile from Kensington is broad and reflects the community's mix. We see a steady stream of student-athlete injuries from Walter Johnson, Einstein, and the area's middle schools — ACL tears from cutting sports, meniscus tears, shoulder dislocations, ankle sprains, growth-plate fractures, and Little League shoulder and elbow. We see active adults in their thirties through sixties with rotator cuff problems, knee and hip osteoarthritis, tennis and golfer's elbow, plantar fasciitis, and lower back pain. The Kemp Mill community in particular has a tightly connected family network, and we frequently see siblings, parents, and grandparents from the same family across multiple visits over time.

Access is straightforward. We hold same-day and next-day appointment slots specifically for acute injuries, and most non-acute consultations are scheduled within a week. On-site imaging at the Bethesda office means most patients walk out of the first visit with a diagnosis and a plan, rather than waiting weeks for an outside MRI before treatment can begin. We are in-network with the major commercial plans Kensington residents typically carry (Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, United Healthcare) and with most Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans.

Our sports medicine team — Dr. Christopher Raffo, Dr. John Christoforetti, and Dr. James Gardiner — together handles the bulk of shoulder, knee, and general sports medicine cases from Kensington. Dr. Gardiner brings more than 30 years of practice experience to the team. Common procedures for Kensington patients include rotator cuff repair (with or without biologic augmentation like Regeneten), ACL reconstruction with quadriceps autograft or patellar tendon (BPTB) autograft, meniscus repair, 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 for hip cases. For hand, wrist, and elbow injuries — common in the area's tennis players and in adults whose work is hand-intensive — Dr. Peter Fitzgibbons offers fellowship-trained upper-extremity care. Dr. Gary Feldman handles foot and ankle problems, including plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinopathy, bunions, and ankle instability.

Not every Kensington patient needs surgery, and most of what we do is non-operative. Structured physical therapy, image-guided injection (corticosteroid, hyaluronic acid, PRP), activity modification, and biomechanical correction resolves the majority of overuse problems. When surgery is the right answer, we use modern arthroscopic and rapid-recovery protocols. The shared goal across every case is to return the patient to the activity that matters to them, whether that is high school lacrosse, a weekly tennis match, or simply walking comfortably along the Capital Crescent Trail.