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New York City Physician Dr. Marina Gafanovich Talks Tom Brady, Football, and the Importance of X-Rays

Manhattan physician

New York, NY (PRWEB) January 03, 2012

Tom Brady does it again! Last week Tom Brady became the third quarterback in NFL history to reach the 5,000 yard mark for passing. There was a great deal of speculation prior to the game if he would be able to play due to injuries he had sustained on his left shoulder. In spite of numerous injuries over the past two years Brady has been able to complete career goals for himself and push forward like an unstoppable machine much to the chagrin of many New Yorkers. Manhattan physician, Dr. Marina Gafanovich is a football fan, however, she also cringes each time she watches players take a spill because she understands from a physician’s perspective just how easy it is to injure bones and other organs in contact sports and not even realize it until weeks later.

“People have different thresholds of pain,” she explains. “Some people know right away with they’ve broken a bone or received some other serious injury, and others for whatever reason do not. They keep going in spite of the pain. In joint injuries tiny fractures can go unnoticed and heal in a manner that is inappropriate and require more invasive surgery later when the patient’s body is less resilient.”

Athletes of all levels, from high school players to the pros, tend to undermine their own health by playing with injured limbs. Some do so because they don’t want to miss an important game, others because their muscles are so strong that they are unaware that a break has even happened. This is why X-Rays in New York are so important in detecting injury.

“You can’t tell from just feeling an area whether a bone has been broken,” Dr. Gafanovich says. “It requires imaging to understand whether or not a break has occurred and how bad that break truly is.”

Brady’s shoulder was cleared by doctors after X-Rays supported the fact that no fractures had taken place with the injury sustained in a previous game and he was given the “OK” to play in the Bills game. Although the game would provide him his place in football history it also made him the victim of four sacks and a knockdown.

American football has a higher injury rate, including death, than any other sport. It is a full contact sport that sees on average 13 catastrophic injuries each year from high school to pro ball and 40,000 concussions suffered each year by high school players.

As a proponent of sports and other physical activities that keep the body’s cardiovascular system in top condition, Dr. Gafanovich finds it difficult to dissuade patients from taking up a game that she both loves and can provide enjoyment and greater physical health. She does, however, want to provide a few cautionary tips to players at all levels:

“Always get an X-ray after every sports injury even if you think it’s ‘just a sprain’,” she advises. “We see patients every day—not just athletes, bike couriers, joggers…grandmothers who have come into our office thinking they’ve pulled or bruised a muscle and what they really accomplished was breaking their bone!”

When in doubt, check it out, is her motto.

Dr. Gafanovich performs a wide variety of laboratory services in her Upper East Side doctor’s practice. Dr. Gafanovich’s office is a fully equipped internal medicine practice with a wide range of laboratory and screening equipment as to provide a comprehensive set of same-day services for her clients and referrals. It was her observation during her internship and early residency that many patients were dissatisfied with having to drive from facility to facility in order to receive a final diagnosis from their medical provider. They wanted a medical “one-stop-shop” without having to go to a hospital for it. Rather than send the patient to a laboratory or separate facility for X-rays, she would bring the laboratory to the patient.

Her desire to create an in-house laboratory and imaging solution for her clients had added benefits aside from good customer service. Dr. Gafanovich is among several leading NYC physicians who believe that the ability to screen internal organs or bone structure while the patient is still in the office enables the physical to catch problems immediately that may translate into an emergency. She gives an example:

“I had a patient who had actually broken a bone, and had no idea. Her pain sensitivity was just not as acute as it ought to be, and based on her verbal input alone I would never have guessed that her problem was a break,” she explains. “Without the ability and opportunity to see the ribcage during that same visit we might have very well missed an opportunity to treat her while the break was still malleable.”

Most New York City doctors would love to have this same ability to perform extended diagnostics within the confines of their practice, but unfortunately many are confined or limited by space constraints and must therefore refer patients to facilities nearby or even across town. Her NYC physician’s practice has screening services ranging from laboratory to cardio-pulmonary, to imaging.

“We’re very lucky,” she admits, “to have a space so accommodating. This is exactly the type of state of the art practice I dreamed about when I first contemplated going on my own.”

Her practice also routinely performs these services as referrals or “second opinions” for other NYC doctors. “We oblige everyone,” Dr. Gafanovich tells us. “If an individual requires an X-ray, we’ll perform the Chest Xray. It’s as simple as that. We don’t turn anyone away. It is my goal, our goal to contribute to the health and wellness of my community here in New York City. If you have a medical concern, come see me.”

Dr. Marina Gafanovich is a board certified internist practicing in the City of New York. She has attending privileges at both New York Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center and at North Shore University Hospital. She has been ranked a #1 Internist in New York by prestigious consumer opinion organizations like “Health Grades”, “Wellness”, “Avvo”, and “CitySearch”.

Her office is located on Dr. Marina Gafanovich, MD – 1550 York Avenue, New York NY 10028 – (212) 249-6218. http://www.mynycdoctor.com

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