100: Dr. Mark Price: Shoulder Instability in Athletes - Part I

The Sports Docs Podcast

Welcome to a very special episode of The Sports Docs Podcast. In celebration of our 100th episode, we are honoring Dr. Mark Price who passed away on August 16, 2024 following his battle with leiomyosarcoma. We wanted to pay tribute to Dr. Price, who mentored us both through our residency at Harvard.

His death is an immeasurable loss to his family and the community. Dr. Price was the Head Team Physician and Medical Director of the New England Patriots since 2016 and a team physician for the Boston Red Sox since 2009. He was a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves and served in combat operations in Afghanistan, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

Most importantly, he was a bright example of a physician who cared deeply for his friends and family, including his wife Stephanie and their children, Henry, Julia and Sarah. The words shared by family and friends at his memorial service in Wellesley last month demonstrated a life rooted in purpose and accomplishments aligned with his values.

Mark was one of our first guests, coming onto the show for Episode #3 and #4 in March of 2021. Consistent with who he was, he was willing to take the time out of his busy schedule to help two of his mentees build something new. So, with that, we thank Mark Price for all that he taught us and the mentorship he provided to not only us, but our community.
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We have 5 great articles which we discuss over two episodes that really contribute well this conversation on how to best manage shoulder instability in athletes both in-season and post-season.
We’re very honored to have Dr. Mark Price join our discussion today. Dr. Price specializes in sports medicine, knee and shoulder surgery. He is an attending surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Price earned his MD from Harvard Medical School and PhD in Medical Physics from MIT. He completed the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program, where Catherine and I both attended as well, and then went on to complete a fellowship in sports medicine and shoulder reconstructive surgery at Mass General. Dr. Price is Head Team Physician and Medical Director for the New England Patriots and a Team Physician for the Boston Red Sox. He is a Captain in the US Navy Reserves and has served in combat operations in Afghanistan, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service.

The first paper is from the February issue of AJSM, titled Incidence of Posterior Shoulder Instability in the United States Military. It is a descriptive epidemiology study by Brett Owen and his team which found the incidence is higher than previously reported. Then, from the January issue of Sports Health, we feature the publication Does Functional Bracing of the Unstable Shoulder Improve Return to Play in Scholastic Athletes? Tokish and colleagues found functional bracing did not result in increased success rates when compared to no bracing in adolescent athletes.