8 VITALITY Spring 2023 SPORTS MEDICINE William Murray is a year-round athlete: football in the fall, basketball in the winter, baseball in the spring and travel sports in the summer. And when he isn’t competing as an athlete, he probably is smoking some chicken for a barbecue competition. With that much competition, injuries are likely to happen. William does have a history of broken bones, after all. He broke his collarbone when he was 5, his arm in fifth grade and his pinky in seventh grade. He added another broken bone to the list while playing Archie High School last fall during week three of his inaugural S. Craig Morris, M.D., removes the cast from William Murray’s leg to take an X-ray to evaluate the healing as William’s mother, Pleasants Murray, watches. Back in ACTION Dr. Morris helps Osceola athlete recover from sports injury high school football season for Osceola High School. “I was going out to get a pass, and I caught it. Then I got hit by one dude,” he says. “He landed on top, made my ankle go inside, and then the other dude hit me from the other side and made it go the other way. So it broke on both sides. I thought I just sprained it. I tried to walk, but I couldn’t.” His mother, Pleasants Murray, says it didn’t take long for her to realize he was injured. “As soon as I saw him get up and take a few steps and then face-plant into the ground, I knew that he was hurt,” she says. “Of course, he didn’t want to leave the game. He wanted to stay there and support his team.” SIDELINE SPECIALISTS Citizens Memorial Hospital has partnerships with area schools to have athletic trainers present at sporting events in case of injury. Morgan Simpson, certified athletic trainer and director of sports medicine at CMH, was at the Osceola game. “Morgan is amazing,” Pleasants says. “As soon as he saw Will was hurt, he was over there, working on him, making sure he was comfortable.” After evaluating William, Simpson determined that his ankle likely was broken. He recommended seeing S. Craig Morris, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine at the CMH Orthopedic & Spine Center. William went to an emergency room on Friday night and followed up with Dr. Morris on Monday. “We didn’t know it was as bad as it was until Morgan got us in down here at CMH to visit Dr. Morris, and then we found out that it was actually broken on both sides,” Pleasants says. CARE JUST FOR ATHLETES Dr. Morris has experience working with sports-related injuries at all levels of competition, from high school to professional athletes. His fellowship training in orthopedic sports medicine at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles included working with members of professional sports teams.
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