We caught up with Dr. Kim Kaiser for our latest Making the Rounds interview. Dr. Kaiser is a sports medicine physician at UK Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine and is also a team physician for UK Athletics. She specializes in helping athletes and non-athletes alike get back to enjoying the activities they love.
What is a sports medicine physician?
As a sports medicine physician, I see kids and adults. I’m non-operative, so I do primary care sports medicine. We’re kind of a triage system for a lot of patients, so they’ll see us first. A lot of patients don’t need surgery, and we’re able to get them better by doing rehab and other treatments, such as injections.
If you do need surgery, then we connect you with the correct surgeon. For example, if you have a shoulder injury, you’re not going to see a knee surgeon. We’ll make sure you see the right person.
Tell us about being a team physician for the Wildcats.
Being with those athletes is really special for me. I played a lot of sports growing up, and I think that helps me to help them.
Our entire team really interacts very well with each other, and we try to take the best care of our athletes to help the fans get a good experience, too.
What is your patient-care philosophy?
I treat the patients like I want to be treated. I try to bring out the inner-athlete in everyone. I think everyone has an athlete within them, and we just need to bring that out. I see athletes, but I see non-athletes, too. I try to get them inspired to do something more active and athletic, and in turn, treat their injuries.
I treat everyone just like I would treat my mother, father or sibling. You’ll be treated just like our collegiate athletes, even if you’re not a collegiate athlete. Our goal is to get you back to you where you want to be, both from a personal standpoint and from a recreational standpoint.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I do sports medicine for a living and sports are also my hobby. I do a lot of things – I play in a couple volleyball leagues here in town, and I also like to trail run, go hiking and go climbing.
How would you spend your ideal weekend?
Sleeping in! Then going to work out. After that, I’d be going to the lake. Lake Cumberland is probably my favorite one.
