January 15, 2020

Each year, physicians are selected by their peers in a survey, asking them which physicians they would turn to for their own personal care. Beacon doctors – 25 Tri-State physicians – were named to Cincinnati Magazine’s Top Docs List of 2020. We are very proud of all of our physicians and thank the medical community for their recommendations. Click on any of the physician’s names below to view their personal profile page, orthopedic specialty and discover why their peers view them as top doctors in the Cincinnati region.

You can schedule an appointment with our Board Certified and Fellowship Trained physicians online or by phone 24/7 with no referral necessary. Beacon has nine convenient locations, evening and weekend appointments and urgent orthopedic care clinics so that patients can get the care they need quickly.

Top Docs 2020:

Foot & Ankle Surgery

Adam Miller, MD

 

Hand Surgery

Mohab Foad, MD

Sam Koo, MD

 

Orthopaedics Surgery

Robert Burger, MD

Haleem Chaudhary, MD

Matthew Johansen, MD

Andrew Razzano, DO

Robert Rolf, MD

David Sower, MD

Pain Medicine

Brian Braithwaite, MD

 

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

John Bartsch, MD

John Brannan, MD

Nicole Goddard, DO

Alberto Maldonado, MD

 

Spine Surgery

Michael Planalp, MD

Ian Rodway, MD

Michael Rohmiller, MD

 

Sports Medicine

David Argo, MD

Peter Cha, MD

Steve Hamilton, MD

Timothy Kremchek, MD

George Matic, MD

Glen McClung, MD

Henry Stiene, MD

 

You can schedule with our physicians 24/7/365 online or by phone at (513)-354-3700.

Cincinnati Magazine Issue

July 8, 2016

Beacon Orthopaedics welcomed David Sower, MD, to its clinic in Erlanger, with the goal of providing better access to spinal care in Northern Kentucky.  Partnering with orthopaedic surgeon Michael Rohmiller, M.D., who specializes in spinal procedures, Dr. Sower will focus on non-surgical treatment and care for patients with spinal injuries.  Dr. Sower grew up in Fort Thomas and graduated from Highlands High School.  At medical school at the University of Kentucky, he met Dr. Rohmiller, where the foundation for this partnership began to set.

 

After completing his residency at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Sower practiced emergency medicine locally for 14 years. He looks forward to the transition from emergency medicine to Beacon’s clinical setting, which he expects will offer stronger, more enduring relationships with his patients.

“We want to be accessible,” says Dr. Sower. “We want a patient to feel as if they can call in and ask a question of their physician or office staff and get a timely response.” He sees this as one of the core challenges confronting healthcare practitioners. “It’s one of the most common patient complaints across healthcare organizations. They want access to physicians and timely care. They want to get to the bottom line more quickly.”

The partnership between Dr. Rohmiller and Dr. Sower will facilitate greater access to spinal care in Northern Kentucky. Established in 2013, Beacon’s Northern Kentucky location is seeing more patients with spinal injuries and conditions.  Dr. Sower explains, “Initial exams often result in the need for physical therapy or MRIs and other things that don’t immediately require surgical care. So the premise of our practice is to bring in another physician, which is me, to decrease the time that it takes.”

This enables Dr. Sower to triage patients with neck or spine injuries and determine the best course of treatment. If exams and diagnostics present non-surgical options, which is the preferred course, Dr. Sower treats them himself.  Although spinal injuries encompass a host of diagnoses and treatment approaches, the majority of patients suffer from conditions such as cervical spine pain or lumbar disc disease for middle-aged patients and spinal stenosis for elderly patients.

Each of these typically present with pain and radiating symptoms that restrict movement and activity.
“A lot of these patients get better non-operatively, that’s the good news.  The regimen often requires a visit, usually involving some X-rays or often times an MRI, to identify more specifically the disease processes,” comments Dr. Sower.

Depending on the diagnosis, patients can be treated with physical therapy, which focuses on stabilization and core strengthening as well as pain management strategies including epidural steroid injections and radiofrequency ablation, where electrical currents are used to desensitize a small area of nerves.

Using these strategies, the majority of patients see significant improvement, although a small percentage require further care. “Patients who get through all of those things and are still symptomatic with conditions like with significant disc disease will move on to surgical intervention.”  The Northern Kentucky location installed a Philips Ingenia 1.5T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit to provide greater access to care.  The instrument will enable greater diagnostic power both in terms of accessibility and location.

Dr. Sower envisions patients attending an initial appointment and if warranted, having the option to undergo imaging the same day. This reduces the traditional approach where a patient will wait a week or two for an initial appointment and then another week or two for an imaging appointment.

“We’re a new clinic so same day appointments are available,” Dr. Sower says. “With the MRI on-site we can get that done right after the clinic visit.”

Adding the MRI is another big step forward in providing a full range of services to Northern Kentucky residents. Beacon added full-service physical therapy care to the Erlanger location in 2014. The response has been so impressive that the facility was expanded last year to improve patient care.  “A lot of our patient population involves hard-working, middle-
aged patients who can’t do the things they enjoy anymore,” clarifies Dr. Sower.

“That’s the real premise, helping people get back to a satisfactory level of activity so they can do their gardening on the weekend or play tennis or golf or pick up their grandkids,” he continues.  “For others, their employment depends on their rehabilitation.  That’s the key, to be able to rehabilitate, giving people more freedom to return to their activities and daily living is the exciting part.”

April 20, 2016

Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine is proud to welcome Dr. David Sower to our Northern Kentucky Location.  Dr. Sower started with Beacon on April 11, and is providing patients with clinical spine care.  Dr. Sower will be practicing full-time at the Erlanger office.

A native of Ft. Thomas, Dr. Sower graduated from Highlands High School and returned to the area after studying medicine at the University of Kentucky.  After 14-years as an emergency room physician for a local healthcare provider, Dr. Sower decided it was time to move to an outpatient setting.

Adding another spine care specialist allows Beacon Orthopaedics to provide faster, more accessible care to Northern Kentucky residents suffering from back pain.  Since only a small percentage of people with back pain require surgery, a non-operative physician can provide clinical care to a wide range of conditions.

Many of the patients Dr. Sower sees are middle aged and suffer from lower back pain.  This often comes from lifting or moving things in a warehouse or factory setting.  One of the reasons Dr. Sower transitioned into the world of orthopedics and sports medicine is the ability to help people do activities they love without back pain.

“We are very excited to welcome Dr. David Sower to Beacon Orthopaedics,” stated Andy Blankemeyer, CEO of the Cincinnati-based practice.  “We want to provide the best patient experience possible, including great accessibility, convenient locations, and short wait times.  Having a non-operative spine specialist full-time in our Northern Kentucky location serves each of those purposes.”

Beacon Orthopaedics is also planning to add a new MRI machine to its southernmost office this summer.  This will allow patients to be seen by Dr. Sower and get diagnostic imaging potentially the same day.  As Dr. Sower summarized, “It’s all about helping people experience freedom from pain as quickly as possible.”