The receiver leaps for the ball just as a defensive player leaps toward the receiver. As both players crumple to the turf, Matthew J. Matava, M.D., leaps into action.
Matava, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and co-chief of the Sports Medicine Service at the School of Medicine, is the head team physician for the St. Louis Rams. He also provides orthopaedic services to the St. Louis Blues and to WUSTL varsity athletes. During the upcoming winter, he’ll also serve as medical director for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
“I’ve been involved with sports all of my life,” he says. “I grew up in the St. Louis area, and I love how ‘sports crazy’ we are. Growing up here, I played virtually all of the sports that are playable.”
In fact, it was a sports injury in college that convinced him to specialize in orthopaedic surgery. When he was attending the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a school with a six-year program that combines medical school with undergraduate work, he also played for the varsity basketball team, the UMKC Fighting Kangaroos.
A torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ended his varsity basketball career, but the injury gave direction to his medical pursuits.
“My major interest is in knee surgery and knee problems, and the majority of my current practice is knee-related,” he says. “Most of my research also is related to the knee, and I can’t help but think part of that is the result of my own experiences as a patient.”
Today, many ACL repairs are done through small incisions, but Matava’s operation was done the old-fashioned way. To this day, he sports a 12-inch scar on his knee. So, whenever one of his patients complains about a scar, Matava pulls up his pants leg and shows off that scar, demonstrating to patients how relatively good their own legs look.
“After my ACL surgery, I thought a lot about sports injuries,” he says. “Most patients are like I was, young and very motivated to get well. And they don’t die. I realized that in sports medicine, I might not be saving lives, but I would be saving lifestyles.”
Biology & penmanship
Matava was in grade school when he first decided on medicine as a career. Actually, he was still in kindergarten when his parents were told he should be a physician.
“My teacher told my mom and dad that my handwriting was so poor I should become a doctor,” he recalls with a smile. “That’s a true story.”
But young Matt didn’t actually decide on his career path until he reached the seventh grade.
“I had an epiphany of sorts that year,” he says. “It was my first experience studying biology, and it just clicked. It was easy to learn, and I did well on the tests, and from that point on, my interest never waned.”
Growing up in St. Charles, he volunteered at St. Joseph’s Hospital and enjoyed occasional glimpses of how physicians cared for patients. He also was impressed by the universal respect the doctors received, and he was excited by a profession like medicine that combined his love of biology with an ability to care for people. So he made up his mind to become a doctor and says from that point forward no other career choices even remotely piqued his interest.
Caring for the pros
After medical school at UMKC, he completed an internship in general surgery and a residency in orthopaedic surgery at the Emory University Affiliated Hospitals in Atlanta. He then completed a fellowship in sports medicine and arthroscopic surgery at the Cincinnati Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center before joining the Washington University faculty as an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery in 1994. The Rams didn’t arrive in St. Louis until the next year, so the first football players he cared for played at area high schools and for the University.
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Matthew J. Matava Born: Nov. 9, 1962 in St. Louis Education: University of Missouri-Kansas City, B.A., 1986; University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, M.D., 1987 University positions: Associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and assistant professor of physical therapy; co-chief of Sports Medicine Service; director of Sports Medicine Fellowship Training Program Family: Mother, Joan Matava; father, Joseph Matava, deceased; sisters, Maria, Anne and Monica, all younger than Matt; wife, Michelle; children, Sarah (12), Christian (8) and Matthew (4) “And unfortunately, none of my kids likes what I do. None of them likes football.” “My mom’s a major sports fan. Her dad actually played for the Cardinals. He was a pitcher. His name was Pete Zoeller, and he played for them back in the ’20s. I actually have his contract in my office.” |
“I have nothing but praise for the medical care those athletes receive from Rick Larson and his team of trainers and student trainers at Washington U.,” Matava says. “Because it’s a Division III athletic program, there aren’t as many resources as you might see for athletic training and sports medicine in Division I. But they do outstanding work, and ours has become a nationally recognized sports program at least partly because of the excellence of the training staff.”
Matava estimates he averages 80-90 hours of work per week, especially considering travel to road games during the Rams season and the hockey playoffs in the spring. In addition, he frequently visits Rams Park in the evening, after he’s finished doing surgeries or seeing patients in his clinic.
“It’s a demanding schedule,” he admits. “But the biggest burden is on my wife, Michelle, because she has to pick the kids up and take them to soccer games and get them to the various activities that I can’t attend because I’m with the professional teams.”
But Matava wants weekend athletes to know that he does more than care for the pros.
“About 95 percent of my practice involves ‘regular’ patients,” he says. “The stuff we do with the NFL and the NHL is ‘on the side.’ It consumes a lot of my day, but the bulk of my job involves those ‘regular’ patients rather than professionals.”
Working with the teams can make it difficult to advance in academic medicine. Although Matava believes working with professional athletes brings benefit to his other patients and to the University, he admits his own research moves somewhat slowly, owing to the fact that most days contain only 24 hours.
“This is a major research center, and there’s always pressure to do more,” he says. “Fortunately our chairman, Dr. Gelberman, understands the time commitment it takes to do what we do.”
Jim Anderson, the head trainer for the Rams, explains that a team physician has duties both in and out of season.
“With the way the game is today, it requires year-round attention in relation to medical care,” Anderson says. “Dr. Matava is a true professional and is completely dedicated to doing whatever it takes to provide the best possible care for the players.
“We also appreciate his optimistic viewpoint. Matt will say things like, ‘All things considered, we’re relatively healthy.’ But sometimes it’s tough to convince the coach of that!”
Pounding the pavement & stirring the sauce
Although his varsity career ended with his ACL tear in the early 1980s, Matava remains a recreational athlete. He still plays basketball from time to time, but these days his primary exercise is running. He compares it to therapy, a time when he can be alone and solve problems in his own head.
His other passion is cooking.
“I like to cook because I like to eat, and it’s a form of relaxation for me,” he says. “I always make these massive holiday dinners for the family. Sometimes I’ll have to cook all night for two nights, but it’s a lot of fun for me.”
And Anderson says he appreciates Matava’s culinary tastes and ambitions.
“That man likes to eat!” Anderson says. “We spend a lot of time on the road, so I always know I can count on going to the best ‘froufrou’ restaurants when Matt is with us.”