Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Clinic Physiotherapy at Chan Gunn Pavilion (UBC)

I got arthritis symptoms in my feet and back after a bout of long Covid. It’s been pretty upsetting bc I’m not old and it’s been impacting my life and my activities.

My GP referred me to the ‘best’ sports med clinic in Vancouver when only my foot was diagnosed arthritic.
I finally get to the appointment and while the Dr. Orenstein was nice, he was so rushed that he only looked at the one joint I’d originally complained about and wasn’t interested in the pain in the rest of my feet or the overall cause.

I left with a prescription for pain cream and a cortisone injection. The cream doesn’t help and I’d like to avoid cortisone because I’ve seen the horrible side effects of steroids.

I left feeling unhelped and at square 1.

I’ve since researched and started taking Genucol collagen glucosamine supplement and was feeling some relief in my feet (and back, which is also suddenly arthritic) within the week.

Our medical system is so severely disjointed. Like do I need to see a rheumatologist? There’s literally no follow up.

Pretty bad experience with the doctors and administrative assistants here. The exam requested by the doctor was never sent to the appropriate Department. I only discovered this fact by calling the Department to check on the status of the request (when I discover they had never received it).

Reviewing Dr. Justin Ting
It has taken me years to be able to write this review.
I saw this guy, I had excruttiating pain, was scheduled to get a pain shot, he refused to administer. Never explained why.

Not recommended!

Saw Dr. Orenstein. He did an assessment and created a great action plan for recovery. Would highly recommend.
Thank you very much!

Dr Orenstein diagnosed me incorrectly, had me wear a boot for 5 weeks that made my injury worse, waited several weeks to order an MRI despite worsening symptoms, didn't listen to me, was dismissive, and blamed me unnecessarily. He presumed I had a stress fracture despite a clear xray and presentation of symptoms and my physiotherapists' diagnosis being one of a sprain/strain. His wrong assumption and disregard for what I was telling him set me back about 2 months as I rehabilitate to walk again and miss races I've trained hard for. I'd recommend other athletes avoid seeing him and instead find a good physiotherapist who knows their stuff.

I saw Dr Koehle about chronic pain and severe headaches I have suffered from following a gymnastics head/neck injury as a child. As a sports medicine specialist I expected him to be able to provide some insight. He ordered and MRI and since it was normal he assumed there was nothings wrong and basically told me it was in my head. He told me to go work out at the gym and wrote down a few exercises. He failed to take note of all of the symptoms of cervicogenic headaches caused by a neck injury such as (1) one-sided pain in base of skull, behind the eye, referring down shoulder blades, accompanied by nausea and vomiting. (2) Weakness in the deep neck flexors and increased activity in the superficial flexors, (3) over-use of large muscles in the neck and shoulders. By the way, doing weight lifting and exercises with muscles imbalances and dysfunction only reinforces those imbalances and causes more pain. What's needed is therapy to heal the cervical spine and stabilizing exercises to re-train the muscles to move properly and maintain good posture.