James Rheuben Andrews, M.D. (born September 1942) is an American orthopedic surgeon. He is a surgeon for knee, elbow, and shoulder injuries and is a specialist in repairing damaged ligaments. Practicing in Alabama, Andrews has become one of the most well known and popular orthopedic surgeons and has performed on many high profile athletes. He also is the team doctor for the Alabama Crimson Tide, Tampa Bay Rays, Auburn University Tigers, and Washington Redskins.
Biography
Dr. Norman E. Waldrop, III, M.D. - Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Center - Norman E. Waldrop, III, M.D. specializes in foot and ankle orthopaedic surgery at Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Alabama. He treats sports injuries, arthroscopy,...
Doctor James R. Andrews is one of the founding members of Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Birmingham, Alabama. He is also co- founder of the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) a non-profit institute dedicated to injury prevention, education and research in orthopedic and sports medicine. He continues to serve as Chairman of the Board and Medical Director of ASMI. Doctor Andrews is also a founding partner and Medical Director of the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Florida. He is President and Chairman of the Board of the Andrews Research and Education Foundation, which is also dedicated to prevention, education and research at the Andrews Institute. He has mentored hundreds orthopedic/sports medicine Fellows and more than 84 primary care sports medicine Fellows, who have trained under him through these Sports Medicine Fellowship Programs. He has become a pioneer in the medical field and has worked for many professional athletes and teams.
Career and education
Andrews received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Louisiana State University, where he was an athlete, winning a Southeastern Conference Championship in polevaulting. He completed his residency at Tulane Medical School and completed fellowships at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the University of Lyon.
Andrews is known for performing orthopedic surgery on high-profile athletes from a wide array of sports and was the subject of an ESPN.com article that praised his talents and listed some of his notable clients. One excerpt from the magazine stated that "[Andrews] is the alpha doc at the center of a sports-medicine network that extends well beyond doctors. Every athletic trainer, physical therapist, strength-and-conditioning coach in the land seems to have Andrews' cell phone number".
He created the HealthSouth Sports Medicine Council and was the driving force behind the Go For It! Roadshow. He serves on the medical advisory board for Tenex Health, Inc., a medical device company that manufactures and markets the Tenex Health TX System for the treatment of chronic tendon and fascia pain.
List of notable patients
Andrews has performed surgery on many high profile athletes and local celebrities, such as Alabama dentist Tommy James. His popularity rose when he first performed a procedure in 1985 on a young pitcher named Roger Clemens. Clemens was starting to second-guess the team's diagnosis of a shoulder injury that was causing him a lot of pain and knocking some speed off of his fastball. Despite reassurances from the club that he could pitch through it, Clemens' agent sent him down to see Andrews, who had a reputation for being an accomplished doctor specializing in minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery. Scoping was just beginning to catch on and Dr. Andrews was at the forefront of the movement. He diagnosed Clemens with a tear of the labrum and performed the surgery himself. Eight months later Clemens was back pitching for the major leagues.
Andrews's work on Clemens helped to build word of mouth for his business and soon he gained a reputation as a player's doctor who could be trusted for an athlete-centric diagnosis instead of a team physician. Since then he has treated many notable athletes such as Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, Jack Nicklaus, John Smoltz, Brett Favre, and Adrian Peterson, all of whom have made positive remarks about his treatment.
Football players
• Bo Jackson: shoulder, 1984; hip, 1992
• Doug Williams: knee, 1988
• Bruce Smith: knees, 1990 and 1991
• Troy Aikman: elbow and shoulder, 1991
• Michael Irvin: shoulder, 1994
• Emmitt Smith: shoulder, 1994
• Trent Green: knee, 1999 and 2001
• Chad Pennington: shoulder, 2005 (twice)
• Deuce McAllister: knee, 2005
• Daunte Culpepper: knee, 2005 and 2006
• Takeo Spikes: achilles tendon, 2005
• Donovin Darius: ACL, 2005; shoulder, 2006
• Drew Brees: shoulder, 2006
• Byron Leftwich: ankle, 2006
• Donovan McNabb: knee, 2006
• Matt Hasselbeck: shoulder, 2007
• Joey Porter: knee, 2007
• Kenny Irons: knee, 2007
• Isaiah Kacyvenski: knee, 2007
• D.J. Shockley: knee, 2007
• Dalvin Cook: knee, 2017
• Sam Bradford: knee, 2017
Baseball players
• Roger Clemens: 1985, shoulder, 1985
• David Wells: 1985, elbow, 1985
• Jimmy Key: elbow, 1988; shoulder, 1994, 1995
• Jose Rijo: elbow, 1995; five more elbow ops, 1996-2003
• Steve Karsay: elbow, 1995; shoulder, 2003
• Kerry Wood: elbow, 1999
• John Smoltz: elbow, 2000 and 2003
• Carl Pavano: elbow, 2001 and 2006
• Jon Lieber: elbow, 2002
• A.J. Burnett : elbow, 2003
• Andy Pettitte: elbow, 2004
• Gary Sheffield: shoulder, 2004
• Jim Thome: elbow, 2005
• Mark Prior: shoulder, 2007
• Anibal Sanchez: shoulder, 2007
• Freddy Garcia: shoulder, 2007
• Chris Ray: elbow, 2007
• Yu Darvish: elbow, 2015
• Marcus Stroman: knee, 2015
Basketball players
• Charles Barkley: shoulder, 1990
• Michael Jordan: shoulder (therapy, not surgery), 1994
• Penny Hardaway: knee, 1996
• Randy Livingston: knee, 1996
• Scottie Pippen: elbow, 2001
• Allen Iverson: elbow, 2001
• Aaron McKie: shoulder, 2001
• Chris Webber: knee, 2003
• Shaun Livingston: knee, 2007
Golfers
• Jack Nicklaus: knee, 1984
• Jerry Pate: shoulders, 1985, 1986, 2003, 2006
• Mark McCumber: shoulder, 1996
Pro Wrestlers
• Triple H: left quadriceps, 2001; right quadriceps, 2007
• Edge: pectoral, 2007
• Christian Cage: pectoral, 2010
• CM Punk: knee, 2012
• Tyson Kidd: knee, 2013
• John Cena: elbow, 2013; shoulder, 2016
References
External links
- Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center
- Andrews Institute
- List of notable athletes operated on by Andrews
