Derek Ochiai is a board certified orthopaedic surgeon in Arlington, VA. He practices at the Nirschl Orthopaedic Clinic. He is fellowship trained in sports medicine and he is a frequent lecturer and instructor of hip arthroscopy for Arthroscopy Association of North America and ISHA-The Hip Preservation Society.
OPN: Could you tell us more about your experience and training background in orthopaedics?
DO: I did my orthopaedic residency at Albany Medical Center, and my fellowship in sports medicine surgery at the Nirschl/Georgetown Sports Medicine Fellowship. Additionally, I did the AANA Advanced Traveling Shoulder Fellowship in 2006. Since then, I co-directed the Nirschl/Georgetown Sports Medicine Fellowship for several years. I am active in and passionate about teaching hip arthroscopy, both at the trainee level and other orthopaedic surgeons.
OPN: What drove you to choose surgery as a career – and sports medicine in particular?
DO: As a teenager, I injured my knee. With the subsequent surgery and my own (arudous) rehabilitation, I became very interested in orthopaedic surgery, and I wanted to treat athletic injuries and get these athletes (of any level) back to the sport that they love.
OPN: With the world recently enjoying watching elite athletes at the Olympics, tell us more about your research about runners who may need hip replacements but can keep on with their running careers?
DO: Hip injuries used to be a career-ending issue for many elite athletes. The research on hip labral tears and FAI (which are precursors to arthritis) has exploded in the past 15 years. Nowadays, we are idenitifiying AND treating these issues BEFORE THEY TURN INTO ARTHRITIS. Also, hip replacement and hip resurfacing surgery is improving all the time.
OPN: What could this research mean for patient outcomes and the future of hip surgery?
DO: Obviously, the best treatment for hip injuries and arthritis is prevention, and the field is looking at ways of identifying athletes at risk, to see if exercise modification can be implemented to avoid surgery in the future. However, if there is an injury such as a labral tear, multiple studies have shown that athletes can get back to their previous level of activity.
OPN: Are you currently involved in any other research looking into new technology or techniques, if so could you tell us more about your aims and outcomes?
DO: I am passionate about improving orthopaedic surgical education world-wide. Therefore, I have been working with Precision OS, which is a virtual reality orthopaedic company. Through this technology, I have interacted and taught surgeons in a virtual operating room. Normally, this type of interaction could only be done in a cadaver lab or with surgeons visiting me during surgery. With virtual reality, we can be in a simulating operating room together and both go through a procedure in real time, and do it over and over again without needing new cadavers or equipment.
OPN: What’s the best part of your job?
DO: I love gettin patients back to the sports they love, whether that’s an Olympic sprinter or a weekend warrior.
OPN: … and the worst?
DO: Honestly, the paperwork! 🙁
OPN: What has been the highlight of your career so far?
DO: That’s such a hard question! Every successful surgery feels like a highlight to me. Outside of that, I think it would be being on the debate team at ISHA-The Hip Preservation Society’s plenary debate in Glasgow 2022 on capsular closure after hip arthroscopy (our team won). 🙂
OPN: Are you planning to attend or speak at any medical conferences or events over the next year? If so, which ones?
DO: I will be attending and teaching at ISHA-The Hip Preservation Society meetings in DC (2024) and Japan (2025).
OPN: If you weren’t an orthopaedic surgeon, what would you be?
DO: I’d want to be a professional golfer, but my daughter thinks we’d be broke if I did that. Ha ha. Seriously, I would probably be a karate instructor like my father.
OPN: What would you tell your 21-year-old self?
DO: Follow your dreams. Orthopaedic surgery is a difficult path, but it’s still the best job in the world.
OPN: How do you think the future looks in the field of orthopaedic surgery?
DO: The trend of doing more and more minimally invasive surgery will continue and exponentially explode. Why would patients want an open shoulder surgery when it could be done arthroscopically?
Orthobiologics (injectables) will be more and more prevalent, as the research continues to advance.
Finally, orthopaedic surgery training will incorporate virtual and augmented reality, with applications during real time surgery as well as training surgeons.
