Orthopedic Care in Washington DC, Maryland

For patients in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, DC — Tenleytown, American University Park, Spring Valley, Foxhall, the Palisades, Cleveland Park, Cathedral Heights, and Wesley Heights — Maryland Orthopedic Specialists is one of the closest subspecialty orthopedic options available. The Wisconsin Avenue corridor that runs from the DC line up through Friendship Heights to Bethesda connects these DC neighborhoods directly to our Bethesda office, often with shorter drive times and easier parking than crossing the river or driving further into DC. We serve a substantial population of patients from this part of DC, including students and parents from the area's public schools (Jackson-Reed, Alice Deal, Lafayette) and from the cluster of private and independent schools — Sidwell Friends, Maret, Georgetown Day School, National Cathedral School, St. Albans, Holton-Arms, Stone Ridge — that line the Wisconsin and Massachusetts Avenue corridors.

Our Bethesda office at 6710-A Rockledge Drive is approximately fifteen minutes from most of NW DC by car — up Wisconsin Avenue, with options to turn west on East-West Highway or to continue north and turn left on Democracy Boulevard. The office offers full surgical and consultation capability: physician evaluations, on-site X-ray and ultrasound, PRP and biologic injections, casting, durable medical equipment, and a fluoroscopy procedure room for image-guided injections and minor procedures. There is a parking garage attached to the building, which removes a significant friction point compared to many DC orthopedic options. For post-operative and sports rehabilitation, our Rockville physical therapy facility at 1071 Seven Locks Road is roughly twenty-five minutes north and is the dedicated MOS rehab home.

The injury profile from NW DC is heavily weighted toward midlife and older active adults, with a strong overlay of student-athlete sports injuries from the area's public and private schools. We see a high volume of rotator cuff disease in patients in their forties through seventies — particularly in tennis, golf, and pickleball players, and in adults whose work and recreation are upper-extremity intensive. Tennis elbow and golfer's elbow are common; knee osteoarthritis is common; hip osteoarthritis in active midlife patients is common; lower back and cervical spine issues are common in this professionally-busy population. The student-athlete population from Jackson-Reed, the area's middle schools, and the private school athletic programs contributes a steady stream of ACL tears, meniscus injuries, shoulder dislocations, growth-plate fractures, and overuse problems — all part of the routine sports medicine workload.

The cultural expectation in NW DC is responsive, no-friction subspecialty care. Patients here are accustomed to communicating directly with their physicians, to having their care coordinated across specialists, and to working with concierge primary care practices that loop in subspecialists. We work that way intentionally. Same-day and next-day appointments are routinely available for acute injuries; non-acute consultations are typically scheduled within a week; and we communicate directly with concierge primary care practices throughout NW DC, Chevy Chase, and Bethesda when patients want their internist looped in. On-site imaging at the Bethesda office means most first visits end with a clear diagnosis and a treatment plan, not a follow-up scheduled three weeks later.

Our sports medicine team — Dr. Christopher Raffo, Dr. John Christoforetti, and Dr. James Gardiner — together cares for shoulder, knee, and general sports medicine cases from NW DC. Dr. Gardiner brings more than 30 years of practice experience to the team. Common procedures for DC patients include rotator cuff repair (with or without biologic augmentation like Regeneten), ACL reconstruction with quadriceps or patellar tendon autograft, meniscus repair, and arthroscopic shoulder stabilization with labral repair for shoulder instability and SLAP/Bankart labral tears — bread-and-butter sports medicine cases in the area's public and private school athletic programs. Dr. Christoforetti's hip preservation practice handles all arthroscopic labral repair, FAI correction, and joint-preserving osteotomies — important for the active midlife DC population, where hip impingement is frequently undiagnosed for years. For hand, wrist, and elbow injuries common in this community's tennis, golf, and desk-bound professional populations, 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, including plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinopathy, bunions, and ankle instability.

Most of what we do for NW DC patients is non-operative — image-guided injection, structured physical therapy, activity modification. When surgery is the right answer, modern arthroscopic and rapid-recovery protocols are designed to return patients to recreational and professional life quickly.