University Orthopedics offers same-day walk-in appointments at two of our convenient OrthoDIRECT locations, East Greenwich and East Providence.
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At OrthoDIRECT, our goal is to provide prompt, high-quality orthopedic care when you need it most. While we do our best to see every patient as quickly as possible, there may be times when we reach capacity. During these busy periods, wait times may be longer than usual, and we may need to prioritize patients based on the urgency of their condition. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to care for everyone as efficiently and safely as possible.
Hand Surgeon
Alexandra Sarnowski is a Physician Assistant who specializes in conditions of the hand and wrist.
Phone: 401-457-1520
Fax: 401-270-0215
Mon - Fri / 8:00AM - 5:00PM
1 Kettle Point Ave.
East Providence, RI 02914
Orthopaedic Disclosure Program
View Dr. Weiss's latest news
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — A new implant is getting the thumbs up from patients.
"The thumb is the third most common joint in the body to get arthritis," said Dr. A. Peter Weiss, a hand surgeon at University Orthopedics. "You don't think about it, but if you don't have it, it's really hard to do anything."
His patient, Joanne Borden, of North Smithfield, gets it. Her left thumb was horribly arthritic."It was just painful to even open a water bottle, pick up a pan. I like to cook," said Borden. "Even if something would hit my thumb, it was very painful."
The problem was a bone at the base of her thumb."It's kind of like the atlas for the thumb. The thumb's sitting on it," explained Weiss.
The way to fix it is to remove the bone. Weiss said standard surgery utilizes a patient's own tendons to replace that bone, and while it is great at eliminating the pain, he said the thumb isn't always stable.
So, this hand surgeon came up with something new."It's like a fire hose rolled up," said Weiss. "It's a thin piece of collagen. [A] long strip and we roll it up like a fire hose and it's this hard-little implant. The body loves this. This is the scaffolding of what every tissue in your body is made out of -- collagen."
"The beauty of this is it's hard in the beginning so people can. They have good power pinch," said Weiss. So far, Weiss has used the implant in about 15 patients, he says, with great success.Weiss said other hand surgeons are getting on board."It speeds up the entire recovery process. My guess is it's about 50 percent faster, the recovery in patients with this implant than without it," said Weiss.
All Borden knows is the pain is gone and she has now got a grip."Now I can hit it. I can grip my steering wheel. I can do all the things that I want to do without thinking about," said Borden. "I'm back to normal doing all the things that I can do."This is the 18th type of implant Weiss has designed over the years.Others have included knuckle replacements for folks with rheumatoid arthritis. This latest one was in conjunction with Massachusetts-based Arthrosurface.
Physician publications
Dr. Weiss has published over 205 articles in medical journals, is Editor of the two major textbooks, and has given well over 380 lectures throughout the world on hand and wrist disorders.
Dr. Weiss is an internationally recognized hand surgeon. He specializes in hand and wrist reconstruction with a special interest in finger and wrist joint replacement surgery. He is the current Editor of the ASSH Textbook of Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery, formerly Editor of the Journal of Hand Surgery, Dean of Admissions at Brown Medical School and the holder of 14 U.S. patents for widely-used medical devices. Dr. Weiss has been honored with the America's Top Doctors, Best Doctors in America, America's Top Surgeons award and top doctor in rhode island monthly magazine. He has been named a "world expert" on Upper Extremity, Hand, Hand Joints, Wrist and Thumb problems by Expertscape.
Hand surgery fellowship at the Indiana Hand Center
Orthopaedic surgery residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
University Orthopedics in Providence, Rhode Island, is a regional referral center for patients with back and neck pain, joint pain, sports medicine problems, shoulder pain, hand problems, hip and knee pain, and foot and ankle injury. University Orthopedics utilizes fellowship-trained, sub-specialized physicians to treat a variety of orthopedic problems.
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