Recent Press

When your child fractures a bone and gets a cast, the experience can be very overwhelming for both the child and parent. It might be hard to focus and remember the instructions given at the doctor’s office. But what if you could scan your cast with your phone at home to get up to speed with everything that was said?

A new peer-reviewed study done by orthopedic surgeons at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, California found that a familiar technology, QR codes, short for quick response, may be a useful tool in helping children who have received casts and their families better manage their health. The study showed the majority of the people found scanning the QR code to get information kept them from calling their doctor’s office to ask questions or book an appointment…

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Alton Barron, who was not involved in the study, agreed: “I would say there’s a lot of applications for it. I think it’s a very useful tool. I just think we don’t want to further technologically impair the doctor and patient relationship because when someone is seeking information, they’re often seeking contact with their doctor or health care provider.”

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, with resources and staffing especially overworked, these QR codes might even minimize the number of unnecessary visit to the emergency room.

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Ed and Doctor Barron discuss Miguel Andjuar’s season-ending injury.

Dr. Alton Barron discusses the importance of creativity, how it influences your health, and how you can resurrect creativity after it has been stamped out.

You’ll Learn:

1. The scientific link between creativity and health
2. Why boredom is good for creativity
3. The role of clutter in creativity

First, Dr. Alton Barron, MD. Alton is a board-certified orthopedic shoulder, elbow and hand surgeon specializing in complex upper limb problems including a whole bunch of things I don’t understand (severe arthritis requiring shoulder and elbow arthroplasty, nonunions and malunions of fractures, severe nerve injuries requiring microsurgery and tendon transfers, contact sports and throwing injuries). He is the founder of the Musician Treatment Foundation, a nonprofit providing medical and surgical care for under- and uninsured musical professionals (specifically with the shoulder, elbow, or hand problems). He is also the co-author of The Creativity Cure.

AUSTIN, Tx — Austin is dubbed the Live Music Capital of the World. For some, it’s hard to make it a living at it, especially if you…say….break an arm. CBS Austin anchor, Allison Miller, introduces us to the nonprofit, Musician Treatment Foundation, making a difference, keeping artists playing without skipping a beat.

Finding a creative outlet can ease the difficulty of daily living. Creativity can lift mood, aiding with depression and anxiety.

Creativity is a physical and psychological action. Cooking, gardening and knitting are wonderful ways to implement creativity in your regular life. Insights arise while your mind has freedom during creative periods.

If you work in an oppressive or mundane situation, it’s a challenge to feel creative. Work to make peace with the mundane and engage in your work in the present. Allow yourself times for meditation and mindfulness. Take advantage your work being the means to the creative end that you pursue outside of the workplace. Make a genuine human connection with someone at work to make the days easier to bear.

Listen as Dr. Carrie Barron and Dr. Alton Barron join Melanie Cole, MS, to discuss how to improve your resilience through creativity.

Austin is home to pioneering nonprofits, such as HAAM and SIMS, that serve the health needs of the music community. Add another: The Musician Treatment Foundation, which aims to heal vulnerable shoulders, elbows and hands, and kicks off with an Elvis Costello benefit concert Oct. 22 at the Paramount Theatre.

Alton Barron, MD, is an orthopedic surgeon at ATX Orthopedics in Austin, Texas.

Dr. Barron previously held academic teaching positions at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine, both in New York City.

My operating room may be unique in that we always play music and the patient gets to choose the playlist if they want. There is something positive about the patient’s individual imprint on the process. But for me, that process begins with the initial office conversation.  I learn as much as I can about who someone is and what matters to them as well as their medical concerns.