Eric Pridgen, MD, watched excitedly as his patient caught the quarterback’s pass and raced down the field to win the game. When the receiver crossed the goal line, Dr. Pridgen felt he had just made a touchdown.

An orthopedic sports medicine surgeon, Dr. Pridgen joined St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care in September.

He sees patients in the Palmerton and Lehighton offices for various bone, muscle and joint injuries, such as sprains, strains, tears and breaks.

St. Luke’s recruited Dr. Pridgen because it is committed to providing specialized orthopedic care in Carbon and Schuylkill counties. He came to St. Luke’s fresh out of a sports medicine fellowship, where he worked with student-athletes.

Dr. Pridgen began working with the football player when he sprained his ankle badly in a preseason game. He struggled to fully recover despite working with Dr. Pridgen and the team’s athletic trainer.

“It was the second to last game of the season,” Dr. Pridgen said. “Our team was down. Suddenly, the quarterback throws the ball. One of the players catches it and takes it 60 yards into the end zone to win the game. That player was my patient with the ankle injury.”

Being able to help patients recover from injuries and regain strength and function so they can achieve their goals is why Dr. Pridgen became a sports medicine physician.

“That’s one of the most rewarding things for a sports medicine doc,” he said. You get to see the whole recovery process and then watch that same patient make the big play.”

Dr. Pridgen specializes in treating knee and shoulder injuries – meniscus and ACL tears, ligament and articular cartilage injuries, patella (kneecap) instability, shoulder instability, and labral and rotator cuff tears. He performs knee and shoulder minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery.

Surgery is not always needed. Dr. Pridgen treats most patients with effective, nonsurgical methods, such as medications, injections and physical therapy. He sees all types of patients, from elite athletes to weekend warriors to parents/grandparents wanting to play with their little ones.

“The goal of sports medicine is to keep people as active as they want to be,” he said. “In one day, I can see a 14-year-old with an ACL tear and then a 60-year-old with a rotator cuff injury.”

Dr. Pridgen’s route to becoming a sports medicine physician was as winding as the roads he drives on during his commute.

He graduated from the University of Delaware with an engineering degree and then worked on vaccines for Merck. He earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with research focusing on bioengineering and nanotechnology. Yet he yearned for direct interaction with patients and seeing firsthand how his work benefitted them.

“I wanted to work with patients, address their problems and see them improve,” he added. “With my engineering background, I liked the hands-on approach and being able to fix things.”

So, he earned a medical degree from Stanford University, completed a five-year orthopedic surgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania and a one-year sports medicine fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. There, he worked with athletes of Washington University, St. Louis Blues, St. Louis Battlehawks and the St. Louis City soccer team.

A proponent of evidence-based practices to guide treatment, he has contributed to medical literature with numerous peer-reviewed research articles and book chapters. He hopes to use his engineering and research background to one day figure out better ways to treat patients, such as by developing new surgical techniques.

But for now, he’s enthusiastic about bringing the most advanced sports medicine to Carbon and Schuylkill County residents. He looks forward to being part of St. Luke’s comprehensive, integrated sports medicine team, including the sports medicine trainers who work with physicians to help athletes safely return to the field.

“As a medical resident, I saw the most tears in the sports medicine clinic,” he said. “The window for high school and college athletes to reach the next step is so narrow. It’s devastating when they have an injury and must miss a season. Our goal is to get our athletes – and all our patients – back to their previous level after an injury.”

To make an appointment, call 484-526-1735.