I am a 45 yo woman living in Northern NJ. I use Yelp to search for restaurants, businesses, etc but rarely review. I want to share with you how wonderful Yelp is by sharing my recent bad, then awesome doctor experience this past week. Yelp saved the day!
I am an avid runner. About six months ago I developed right knee pain, saw my local doctor who did an MRI after examining me, diagnosed me with "Runner's Knee", prescribed orthotics and physical therapy. After following instructions and doing physical therapy, wearing my orthotics, I was no better and could not run without pain. My therapist recommended I go to NYC and see a doctor at at a major hospital.
So 2 weeks ago, I took the day off with my husband and we went to see a doctor in Manhattan. After waiting in the waiting room for over an hour past our appointment time, we complained. 10 minutes later they brought me to a room and had me put on a gown. 35 minutes later, the doctor walked in. We had a five minute visit. He never examined me, he told me the therapist must be doing the wrong thing, I should buy his book and watch his online videos and come back to see him in a month. We were flabbergasted!
On the way home, on my cell, I looked up this doctor on Yelp (I should have before we went!). His reviews had the same experience as me. I then searched "Running Doc" on Yelp. I found Dr. Lewis Maharam. After reading his site, we decided to call, from the car, to see about getting an appointment.
His assistant on the telephone was very nice. She explained everything. We easily found and appointment and I was all set. Dr. Maharam does not take insurance but we felt it was worth it to pay up front because I do have "out of network" benefits.
I arrived Tuesday for my appointment 10 minutes early to fill out paperwork. Dr. Maharam's office (people call him "Running Doc") is a shrine of his accomplishments and awards together with pictures and testimonials from professional runners, athletes and celebrities.
I was taken "on time" and he took a thorough history and physical examination. He listened to everything I said. He looked at my MRI. He had me demonstrated what exercises I was doing in physical therapy. He looked at my orthotics and running shoes and watched me run down the hall. I have never had such a thorough experience.
After all this, he said my doctor in NJ almost got it right. The orthotics were perfect (similar to what he would have made) and my therapist was doing the right exercises. So I do have "Runner's Knee". What was missed, however, was that I have extra thick connective tissue around the knee cap called plicas. These keep the pain going.
He then went over treatment options: surgery (and he is not a surgeon but a sports medicine specialist) and he could refer me to a good surgeon or PRP(platelet rich plasma) injections which he does in the office. PRP is expensive, not reimbursable, but all natural and not surgical.
Dr. Maharam left the room so my husband could discuss the treatment options but he pointed out I've had this for a while so there is no rush to do anything that day.
When he left the room, my husband and I looked at each out and blurted out let's do PRP at the same time together. we did the procedure on both knees that say and today is Saturday, I am pain free and just came in from a 4 mile run pain free. The first time in 4 months.
The moral of this story: Running Doc is practicing sports medicine as it is supposed to be. Unfortunately, finding someone like him is rare. He is excellent! I am recommending him to everyone. And I am recommending Yelp search Thank God Yelp search brought me to Dr. Maharam. read more