Asheville Sports Medicine Specialist
Dr. West is a native of Asheville who graduated from Asheville Christian Academy. He also graduated from UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University School of Medicine. He completed his surgical internship at Duke and his Orthopaedic Surgery Residency at the University of Wisconsin.
After residency, Dr. West completed an Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Alabama with Drs. James Andrews, William Clancy, Lyle Cain, and Jeff Dugas. His additional training focused on the latest arthroscopic techniques for treatment of sports injuries of the shoulder, elbow, and knee.
Since returning home in 2009, Dr. West has focused on arthroscopic and open reconstruction of the shoulder, which accounts for the majority of his nearly 800 surgical cases annually. These include several hundred arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs, arthroscopic labral repairs (stabilization), and arthroscopic biceps repair (tenodesis), which can be performed simultaneously. He also performs a large volume of shoulder replacement from shoulder resurfacing to reverse total shoulder replacement. In 2011, Dr. West was the first surgeon in Western North Carolina to perform outpatient shoulder replacement at a surgery center. Since then, he only admits patients following shoulder replacement at their request.
As a sports medicine specialist, Dr. West also performs arthroscopic treatment of meniscal tears, ACL tears, and elbow soft tissue injuries. He understands the importance of getting all patients back to their previous level of function, whether at work or play.
Though training, experience, and surgical skill are important, Dr. West enjoys focusing on his patients. The majority of people are helped with non-surgical interventions. Diagnosis of soft tissue injuries is often made with cost-effective in-office ultrasound. If surgery is required, Dr. West utilizes one of the two surgery centers in Asheville and takes call for his patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He is committed to helping all of his patients reach their optimal outcome.
