Fellowship trained in shoulder and knee conditions, Dr. Franks was recently appointed Master Instructor for the Arthroscopic Association of North America where he teaches other surgeons advanced techniques in arthroscopy. “Personally, it keeps me on the cutting edge of my specialty.” But doctors are not his only audience. Patients are students too. Over the years, Dr. Franks has customized his own collateral material comprised of a series of notebooks and drawings of the shoulder and knee. These images guide a patient step by step. “I believe people can best participate in their treatment decision and aftercare if they understand their condition as it relates to normal anatomy.”

While arthroscopic surgery seems commonplace, it is a relatively new technique. “Arthroscopy began as a treatment for athletes. We are now using the same techniques for an older, wider demographic. It allows us to correct problems with minimal damage to other tissue.” Current arthroscopic surgery is comparatively non-invasive when juxtaposed with the open techniques practiced in the first generation of knee and shoulder surgery. “Using an instrument no larger than a stylus from a PDA, I make three button hole size incisions. While the incisions are small, I can actually see more. This may seem counterintuitive, but there are places we cannot get to easily through bigger incisions because they involve cutting through skin and muscle. Even if you cut the muscle, the bone is still in the way. Instead of cutting through the bone, the arthroscope goes under the bone to look at the structure.” In the future Dr. Franks sees repairing weak, torn tissue with grafts that will augment existing tissue arthroscopically.

Dr. Franks does hundreds of procedures a year—all on an outpatient basis. The fact that patients experience less downtime and pain often leads to a false sense of recovery. “The length of time it takes the body to heal is much longer than people think. Fixation of tissue growing into bone takes time. Physical therapy or targeted exercise is necessary to maximize healing and maintain a long term result once surgery is performed.”
If you have a structural problem with a joint that is not functioning properly, weakness, poor range of motion or pain, Dr. Franks can advise you on what can be cured with a scalpel—and what cannot. While he sees hundreds of patients each year—none are ever routine. “My standard of care is methodical…learning to look past what is expected to include that which may not be evident. It’s best not to ignore the little things. If you treat everyone the same, you may miss a key diagnosis.”