UK St. Claire Proudly Welcomes Orthopedic Surgeon & Sports Medicine Specialist Eric J. Dennis, MD, to Its Medical Staff

UK St. Claire is proud to welcome Eric J. Dennis, MD, orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist to our growing medical staff.

“The thing I love about sports medicine and orthopaedics is being able to take someone from being miserable or in pain and not being able to do what they want to do, to getting them where they want to be … feeling better and getting to live their life the way they want to,” said Dr. Dennis. “After they have surgery or even if we treat them non-operatively, they almost always get better.”

Dr. Dennis truly has a love of sports. He grew up in the Northern Virginia area playing nearly every sport under the sun. He played lacrosse and football in high school and continued playing club lacrosse in college while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. An unfortunate sports injury of his own, however, changed his direction.

“My last semester in undergrad, I ruptured my Achilles tendon playing flag football of all things and had to have surgery. That’s when I knew I wanted to go to medical school,” he said. “I shadowed the orthopedic surgeon who performed my surgery, and I knew I wanted to go into orthopaedics.”

With a new career path ahead of him, Dr. Dennis continued his education at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, Virginia, and earned his medical degree in 2015. He completed both his orthopedic surgery internship and residency at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, and went on to complete an additional clinical fellowship in sports medicine at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Specialized training in sports medicine has prepared Dr. Dennis to help patients of all kinds (not just athletes) improve athletic performance, recover from injury, and prevent future injuries.

“I’m looking forward to working with local athletic trainers and assisting with local sports, but I’m also excited to provide general orthopedic care as well,” he added. “If you’re experiencing joint pain in general, it’s important to know what’s going on because it might not be just arthritis. Surgical and non-operative treatment options may be available to improve your quality of life.”

If you are suffering from a sports-related injury or are experiencing any type of pain in your ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, or back, consider scheduling an appointment with Dr. Dennis or a member of UK St. Claire’s highly skilled orthopedic team.

Dr. Dennis is now seeing new patients at the St. Claire Medical Pavilion, located at 245 Flemingsburg Rd., in Morehead. To schedule your appointment, call 606.784.6641 or request an appointment online at www.st-claire.org/appointment.