The intricate bones, joints, muscles, tissue, and nerves in your hands and wrists enable you to hold a book while reading, pick up a child, type on the computer, chop garlic, rake leaves, throw a baseball, or knit a scarf. An injured hand or wrist can seriously impede your ability to participate in everyday activities. At VOA, our objective is to return your hand or wrist to maximum capability as quickly as we can. VOA physicians provide compassionate, professional care using the latest technologies.

We use our shoulders and elbows throughout the day—working, exercising, or even just lifting bags of groceries. Athletes or people in certain professions may use more vigorous or recurring motions more frequently. Injuries to the wrist, hand, or arm may cause a loss of sensation and movement, chronic pain, or impaired ability. These problems can seriously inhibit daily activity. VOA treats athletic, repetitive, degenerative, and traumatic hand and upper extremity disorders and injuries.

VOA’s Sports Medicine Services focus on prompt diagnosis and treatment for athletic injuries. Sports-related injuries require special treatment, including a comprehensive rehabilitation plan to safely return you to your sports activity. A premature return to exertion may re-aggravate your injury, resulting in an even longer recovery program. Our sports medicine doctors in both Renton and Covington want to return you as closely and safely as possible to your full functional, pre-injury level.

Neck pain or back pain, caused by an injury or disorder, can make simple tasks a challenge. Neck or back problems may affect walking, driving a car, even getting through your workday.

The spine is your body’s main structure, providing support and flexibility that allows you to move, turn, sit, stand, twist, stretch, and bend over. The spine extends from the base of your skull to the tip of your tailbone and is a complicated series of bones, discs, muscles, nerves, and ligaments. The three main areas of the spine, which are susceptible to spine problems, are the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, 46 million people (nearly one-in-five adults) suffer from arthritis. Osteoarthritis affects more people than any other joint disease and, while not life-threatening, it can be a major cause of pain and disability.

Osteoarthritis is a spectrum of disease states that, at the milder end of the spectrum, can be very amenable to treatment modalities to decrease symptoms. These arthritis treatments include activity modification, weight loss, strength training, oral anti-inflammatory medications, or injections of cortisone or other agents into the joint.

Severe arthritis may require more than symptomatic treatment. Surgery may be considered. Joint replacement, such as hip replacement and knee replacement, are commonly performed as treatment for the most severe osteoarthritis of the lower extremity.

Our feet, ankles, and legs support our weight and allow us to get around, whether walking, running, climbing stairs, riding a bike, or even driving a car. Foot and ankle pain can limit mobility and keep you from participating in the normal activities of your life.

Foot pain is often caused by shoes that do not fit properly. Shoes that are too tight can cause pressure on the skin, joints, and bones of the foot. Shoes that are too loose may allow the foot to rub against the shoe, causing calluses or other foot problems. However, bad shoes are not the only source of foot and ankle problems. Genetics, injury, repetitive motion, or arthritis may also cause serious foot, ankle, or heel pain.

VOA's Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) is an advanced outpatient surgery facility designed specifically for orthopedic surgery. Patients are able to go home the same day as surgery to recuperate in the comfort of home.

The ASC surgeons, nurses, and technicians perform nearly 4,000 orthopedic surgical procedures each year, translating into the highest level of experience, care, and efficiency in orthopedic surgery.

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Moving easily and free from pain is vital to an active and productive lifestyle. VOA specializes in comprehensive occupational medicine in a friendly, state-of-the-art environment. We are committed to providing the highest quality care available to injured workers, so they can return to their jobs quickly and effectively.

VOA's imaging services include an advanced digital radiography system and MRI. Radiography (or x-ray) is the simplest way for a physician to determine bone injury or disease, such as a fracture or arthritis. With comprehensive imaging services, your orthopedic physician can effectively diagnose your condition and determine the best course of treatment.

Injury or disease can disrupt the messages that your nerves carry to and from your brain. This disruption may cause pain, weakness, or numbness in the back, neck, arms, hands, or legs. Electrodiagnostic testing helps pinpoint the problem, resulting in faster, more effective treatment. Two commonly used tests, offered at VOA, are electromyography (EMG) and nerve conduction studies (NCS).

It is normal for our bones to lose strength as we age. After age 30 (especially in women following menopause), our body starts to remove old bone and produce new bone unequally. Old bone is absorbed more rapidly than new bone is produced. The result is gradually weakened bones, or osteoporosis, and an increased risk of fractures. Bone densitometry is a simple, painless way to test bone strength.