Category: Business

Pura Cycling Studio Offers Indoor Cycling, Personal Training & More

By Andy Warrener

Getting into shape shouldn’t be torture. Yet, on the other hand, if your instructor isn’t pushing you, it can be difficult to attain your fitness goals. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a place that struck a balance between the two?

Tucked into the Shoppes at New Tampa Plaza on the southeast corner of S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in Wesley Chapel, a place like that just happens to exist.

Pura Cycling Studio, a locally–owned fitness center, aims to get clients sweating off those extra pounds with a good workout burn, mixing a small comfortable setting with just the right amount of intensity.

“We try to present a welcoming, relaxing environment where it’s not so intense and overwhelming, but where people can still achieve results,” co–founder Stephanie Carroccetto says.

Stephanie and her husband Alfio opened Pura Cycling Studio in November of 2012 when they were only dating, and they didn’t draw up the concept out of thin air. They say they were inspired after a trip to South America.

“I did some volunteer work in college in Costa Rica and I fell in love with the people there,” Stephanie says. “They know when to play hard and when to work hard, too. I wanted to bring that type of feeling back here.”

The mantra in Costa Rica is “Pura Vida,” which translates literally from Spanish as “pure life.”

However, Pura Vida is more of a concept, a philosophy, an idea. Stephanie was so taken by the concept that it made its way into the name of their new business.

When the Carroccettos opened the studio, it was just that, purely an indoor cycling facility. Over the last three+ years, however, Pura has grown into a multi-faceted fitness and nutrition center. Pura now employs or contracts out 10 different trainers of varying fitness disciplines. All instructors have to be certified by a nationally -accredited association and also be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

“After more than three years of training in Wesley Chapel, and helping hundreds of people lose weight and feel better about their lives, I couldn’t be happier with what Pura has become,’’ says Alfio. “It’s truly amazing to be able to do this as a lifestyle.”

Indoor cycling is still the primary program at Pura, but the Carroccettos and their studio also now offer resistance and strength training, as well as yoga and core classes. Class settings range from small groups of 5 or 6 to as many as 17, says Stephanie, who also offers 1–on–1 personal training sessions.

Indoor cycling classes are offered in 45- and 60-minute sessions, where more than a dozen participants work the resistance dials on the bikes to increase or decrease the intensity of their respective workouts. Core and yoga classes, usually 30-minutes long, often precede or follow a cycling class. The strength training sessions are 50 minutes long and are broken up by specific muscle groups.

Non-cycling classes have a maximum of 10 participants.

“We want people to know we are much more just than a cycling studio,” Stephanie says.

The Carroccettos are both local Tampa Bay-area products. Stephanie graduated from Palm Harbor University High and played for the girls soccer team, one of the top programs in the state. She continued to play club soccer while attending Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she studied marketing and entrepreneurship. A knee injury forced her off of the soccer pitch and running trails she enjoyed. That’s when she discovered indoor cycling.

Alfio graduated from Zephyrhills High, and has a background in advertising and sales.

“He knew how to push the business, I knew how to start it,” Stephanie says.

It was a match made for both business and life partners.

“We saw an opportunity in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area and we wanted to bring both indoor cycling and the idea of Pura Vida to the community,” Stephanie says.

So, Pura Cycling launched and grew quickly. A handful of clients ballooned into dozens of long–time members, all working towards their individual fitness goals, many of which have been laid out by Stephanie and Alfio.

“We’re a results–oriented studio,” Stephanie says. “If our clients aren’t getting results, we’re not doing our job.”

Clients who “buy into” the programs at Pura Cycling tend to stick around. At our press time, Stephanie and Alfio had roughly 200 clients for their indoor cycling classes, and another 60 or so for the other training services.

“Most of our clients have been with us for years,” Stephanie says.

Take Sue Andreychuk, for instance. The wife of former Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk, Sue has been a Pura member for the last two years and says she feels like she’s found a place to stay.

“I’ve been to a lot of bigger gyms but I like the smaller, group setting,” Sue says. “There’s a lot of support and they’re great people. They come in every day with smiles on their faces.”

Even first–timers leave with a good impression. Melanie Mainwaring suffered from knee injuries similar to the ones that kept Stephanie from running before she opened the studio, but now has little problem getting in a good workout.

“They’re really good people, friendly instructors and helpful,” Mainwaring says. “They made me feel at ease and the workout was pretty hard.”

Pura Cycling uses Spinner NXT bikes, which Stephanie likes because of their “heavy fly wheel” and “durable base.”

“You can really beat them (the bikes) up and they won’t fall over,” she says.

Stephanie also notes that she likes to use popular music to spice up her classes.

“It’s easier to get people into it when you put on a beat they’re more familiar with,” she says. “Everybody wants to rock out to their favorite jam.”

Pura Cycling Studio is as much a social group as it is a gym. Members often participate in group challenges outside of the studio. Stephanie, whose knees have recovered enough for her to run again, has taken her clients to the Ocala National Forest to run trails. And, more recently, she took a group of 15 Pura members to Airheads in Tampa, where they worked out on trampolines. She also has run a hula-hoop class and other challenges.

Pura Cycling brings fitness full circle as it offers a FitPro Accelerator Program, which bundles everything together: workouts, nutritional guidance and monthly assessments from either Stephanie or Alfio. Pura Cycling even has a partnership with PlateJoy, an online meal-kit delivery service that offers personalized meal plans based on your weight-loss goals, your dietary restrictions and the amount of time you have to exercise.

Looking for a boost to your exercise regimen as well as a little nutritional guidance? Pura Cycling Studio is located at 1822 BBD Blvd., next to Firehouse Subs. For more info, visit PuraCycling.com, call the studio at 501-2124 or see the ad on page 4 of this issue.

Irish 31 to Open at Wiregrass Mall!

A Neighborhood News Exclusive By Gary Nager

Former USF football star Jay Mize, who already has four successful Irish 31 restaurants (in Hyde Park Village, Westshore, Westchase & at the Amalie Arena), says he hopes to open his fifth & sixth locations by the end of 2016.One of those new locales is on Clearwater Beach & the other is in The Shops st Wiregrass mall, in a shared building that just began site work next to Panera Bread.

Mize says the Irish 31 at Wiregrass will be 2,800 SF & will feature the same great chef-inspired (I call it ‘Irish-plus-gourmet’) cuisine as the other Irish 31 locations.

“It’s sort of a race to see which of our new stores opens first,” Mize says. “But we hope both will be open by the end of 2016.”

Mize noted that he couldn’t disclose the business that would share the building at our press time, but, “we know it’ll be good for us because we’re compatible with everyone.”

Visit Irish31.com for more details.

Florida Pain Medicine — When You Want Your Pain Managed Responsibly!

Dr. Navdeep Jassal, M.D. (left) and Dr. Maulik Bhalani M.D.

Dr. Maulik Bhalani M.D. knows that when people hear of pain clinics, some think of the so-called “pill mills.” He understands that after years of headlines about abuse of certain pain medications, particularly in Florida, the reputation is tough to shake.

But, at Dr. Bhalani’s Florida Pain Medicine on Windguard Cir. (across from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, or FHWC, where he moved in May from his former location on Ashley Oaks Cir. in Seven Oaks), he says the perceptions are not even close to reality.

“The typical working class person doesn’t want to see a pain management doctor because they think that doctor is going to get them hooked on medication,’’ says Dr. Bhalani. “Little old ladies, grandmothers, will come in and tell us…I know those stories that are out there on the news. But, when they come in here, from minute one, it’s a totally difference experience.”

The office is clean and lively, the doctors are open and friendly and the approach to managing your pain, which employs the latest technological advances, is always, they say, measured and restrained, yet effective.

“There’s not a bunch of guys outside in the parking lot smoking, looking disheveled, looking for pain meds,’’ Dr. Bhalani says. “That’s not the kind of practice we are.”

The kind of practice Florida Pain Medicine is, Dr. Bhalani says, is one that focuses on interventional pain management. “Start-to-finish pain care,’’ he says.

Sometimes, in the best cases, that means opioid management, ice and injections until the patient can complete physical therapy.

“Then, we wean them off pain meds, hopefully with the goal of we never see them again, which means they are doing great and back to living their life,’’ Dr. Bhalani says.

Florida Pain Medicine also offers Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) and ultrasound therapy.

In other cases, like patients with terminal cancer, Dr. Bhalani says his goal is not to let them live out their last days in misery.

Whatever the malady, “We never force anything on anyone,’’ Dr. Bhalani says.

Pain management means different treatments for different people. Every patient is unique, but the main goal for Dr. Bhalani and his associate at Florida Pain Medicine, Dr. Navdeep Jassal, M.D., is to help their patients return to a normal way of life. Their motto is “Restore Function, Relive Life.”

“We want to get you back to where you can live your life the way you like living it,” Dr. Bhalani says.

A Little Info About The Doctors

Dr. Bhalani, a huge local sports fan and 10-year Tampa Bay Buccaneers season ticket holder who dons a Jameis Winston jersey for home games, has followed in the footsteps of his father, who is a pain medicine doctor in the Ormond Beach area of Florida, as well as several of his uncles and aunts.

In fact, Dr. Bhalani is one of 13 cousins in his family – and all are physicians.

“We don’t know how to do anything else,’’ he says, chuckling and joking that he might raise his kids, who are ages 3, 1 and 10 months old, to be NFL punters.

Dr. Bhalani received his M.D. degree from the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, NE. He also spent two years as a resident at Maryland General Hospital in Baltimore in 2005; was the chief resident at the University of South Florida’s Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency Program; and completed an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Pain Medicine Fellowship in Interventional Pain Medicine at USF in 2010. He is Board-certified in Interventional Pain Medicine and in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

Dr. Bhalani’s credentials also include sitting on the Board of the Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (FSIPP) as a Director-at-Large, and he is proud of the work the FSIPP did in helping craft the so-called “Pill Mill Bill” in 2011, which forced clinics to register with the state and banned doctors from dispensing opioid prescription painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycodone from their offices. The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program also was implemented, which Drs. Bhalani and Jassal reference to look at a patient’s prescription drug history.

Dr. Jassal says he heard about all the “wild wild west stories” about Florida’s pill mills when he was studying in New York.

“I didn’t believe it until I came down here,’’ he says. “But, it’s improved dramatically (since 2011), thanks to the efforts of Dr. Bhalani and others.”

A car enthusiast and avid runner who sometimes puts in 15 miles on a weekend as a way to relax, Dr. Jassal joined Dr. Bhalani in July after completing a Pain Medicine Fellowship at USF, where he was a student of Dr. Bhalani’s. Before that, he was a resident at North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health Systems and Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine in Great Neck, NY.

Most patients Drs. Bhalani and Jassal see are what you might expect — those suffering from back, neck and joint pain. Others have more serious conditions, like poor recovery from back surgery, painful diabetes and even cancer. Each treatment plan varies.

The doctors at Florida Pain Medicine say they prefer a conservative approach. Patients generally will not be prescribed any controlled pain medications on the first visit. The doctors are careful to give a full exam — surprising to patients who have been to other pain medicine doctors — and look over X-rays and other images and notes from the referring doctor. as well as run a urine drug screen.

Dr. Bhalani said he and Dr. Jassal will sometimes suggest a smaller dose of medicine than the patient is currently taking. Others are often offered alternatives to stronger prescription drugs, like local anaesthetic injections (epidurals, for example), anti-inflammatory drugs, physical therapy or even weight loss to relieve pain.

“If that doesn’t work, we’ll use more aggressive measures,’’ Dr. Bhalani said. “We really try to be kind of conservative initially.”

Dr. Jassal says that since joining Florida Pain Medicine in July, he has seen as many patients in six months as he expected to see in nine months or a year. On average, Drs. Bhalani and Jassal see 25-27 patients a day, a number they think is perfect to give them time to give each patient individualized care.

Business has been so good that Dr. Bhalani, who opened his second Florida Pain Medicine on Arbor Ridge Dr. in Zephyrhills on Nov. 16, says he hopes to open another this summer or in early 2007, in Brandon.

The expansion speaks to the popularity of the doctors and the office’s friendly, comfortable environment cultivated by Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) Louann Brown and office manager Stacye Ciegler.

Dr. Jassal thinks the office’s reputation, which includes strong relationships with local pharmacists and doctors, comes from the way the patients are cared for at Florida Pain Medicine. Dr. Bhalani says he recommends for his patients the same things he would for his own parents: “Literally, that is how we treat every single patient,” he says proudly.

A soft, personal touch and firm recommendations are something Dr. Jassal thinks patients appreciative. Sometimes, an injection, which can relieve pain for months, is suggested instead of a prescription. “Sometimes, they are like wow, I wish someone had recommended this 4-5 years ago.”

Dr. Bhalani says he recently treated a 90-year-old patient who told him, “Well, Doc, if this works as good as the last one, that’d be great,” to which Dr. Bhalani replied, “Oh, the last one helped you?,” and the patient told him that was the reason he hadn’t been back for seven months. “And I’ve been golfing the whole time!,” he said.

Not to be outdone, Dr. Jassal has a 97-year old patient who receives periodic injections, which he says, “keeps her happiness, and her happiness is dancing with her son,’’

Most of the office’s business, Dr. Bhalani says, comes from referrals. He thinks he treats as many local physicians and their family members as anyone in the area.

Dr. Bhalani can do procedures at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, where he is the director of the Intervention & Pain Program, and at New Tampa Surgery Center on Cypress Ridge Blvd.

However, state-of-the-art pain management procedures are often performed in his Wesley Chapel office, as opposed to the hospital or at ambulatory surgery centers, which helps save patients money.

“The whole spectrum of care gives us flexibility,’’ says Dr. Bhalani.

To reach either the Wesley Chapel Florida Pain Medicine office (at 2553 Windguard Cir.) or the Zephyrhills’ location (38011 Arbor Ridge Dr.), call 388-2948.

VIP Elite Barber Shop For The Latest Styles & ‘Old School’ Service

Joanne Rivera is a whirlwind of activity. On a tour of the VIP Elite Barbershop on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., in front of Live Oak Preserve (next to Marco’s Pizza), which she owns with her husband and Master Barber Omar, she is grinning widely and excitedly talking about the new place.

Joanne thinks VIP Elite is the best place in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel to get your hair cut, and she’ll tell you why, while handing you a small stack of the shop’s business cards to hand out to your friends. She rattles off the special services and perks, like online booking (just go HERE to make an appointment), and takes you on a tour of the VIP area in the back that even has a Hollywood-style backdrop.

“Take your picture, feel like a star,’’ she says, which is what VIP Elite is all about.

She pulls out her cellphone, proudly showing off the shop’s Instagram and Facebook accounts. Joanne is a social media maven, firing off post after post, many with deals for clients.

Omar, on the other hand, is calm, cool and collected as he watches from the front of the store. He explains everything he does and why he does it in a soothing, matter-of-fact manner.

“I love cutting hair; I love giving people a great experience,” he says as he meticulously tends to the client in his chair, leaning in for a closer look at his handiwork, then giving one more buzz-by with his razor.

“The most important thing in cutting hair is the details,” Omar says. “The lines have to perfect.’’

This is how it works at the VIP Elite Barber Shop. Joanne is the energy behind the scenes, a marketing hurricane taking her storm to social media to attract and keep clients; Omar is the quiet artist, intent on making sure those who sit in his chair leave happy, and return later.

Fire and Ice.

“She is my nitro,’’ Omar says.

“It works,” Joanne says, laughing.

Working Toward A Common Goal

When Omar and Joanne opened VIP Elite Barber Shop in August of this year, they had one goal — to have the classiest, most classic barber shop in town, with exquisite modern touches — a mix of old school and new school.

When you walk into the place, your first impulse is to grab a seat on the comfortable brown leather loveseats in the lobby. There’s even a bar and VIP area in the back — built by Omar himself and nicknamed the “Man Cave” — where you can grab a cup of coffee or tea. Magazines are spread on a table. The TV is on.

The whole place has a warm feel, with subtle, masculine touches. The floor has a brown faux marble finish, the barber chairs are a rich chocolate color, the lights are soft, and the music is just the right amount of funky.

For a split second, you almost forget you are there to get your hair cut.

“When we designed it,’’ Omar says, “we wanted it to feel like home.”

Once in the barber’s chair, there are a myriad of services in which you can indulge.

A regular haircut will run you $20, and it includes a complimentary hair wash if you want it. For kids, it’s just $15. If you follow Joanne on Instagram or Facebook, you might even be able to catch a deal, like the occasional “$10 Tuesday” special.

Edges and shape-ups are $7, and the same goes for beard trims. Mustache and eyebrow trims are $5, or get it all with the VIP Ultimate package for $35.

And, you’ll also get something you won’t find just anywhere — a hot towel, straight-razor shave for $15 that can take 45 minutes and will leave your face feeling fresh and clean.

It starts with a hot warming cream, followed by a hot towel. Omar will then lay down some shaving cream, using a little bit of the foamy stuff and some of the slick stuff. With a straight razor and a steam machine keeping your face moist and warm (and the pores open), Omar delivers a tight shave, then a cold towel, which he says tightens the skin and properly closes the pores. After some moisturizer and a facial massage, if you haven’t fallen asleep in the chair, you may wonder why you ever shaved yourself in the first place.

“That’s just one of the added touches that we think puts us ahead of the other places,’’ Omar says.

“I moved here from New York and was looking for a place, and this is what makes this barbershop unique, you can come here and relax,’’ said Matthew Arriage, one of VIP Elite’s regulars. “It’s nice when you find a barber shop you really like. Other places I’ve been to, they aren’t interested in talking, they just want your get your money and get you out of there.”

Omar is from Manhattan, and Joanne is from Brooklyn. But, believe it or not, they actually met in Ocala as teenagers. It was love at first sight, Omar says, when as a freshman he bravely walked up to Joanne (a junior) and asked her for a date.

They were married in Ocala in 1995, and settled afterwards in Linden, NJ. Joanne went to school to earn her MBA, and Omar took jobs in retail management at Modell’s Sporting Goods, Sears and Home Depot.

He never stopped cutting hair, though. His son Israel would bring friends over, and he’d cut their hair on the back patio. He also cut the hair of friends and family. He got licensed to be a barber but until moving back to Florida last year, never thought about opening his own place.

But, tired of the retail grind and with the long hours that he said took him away from his family and left him depressed during holidays, Omar did decide to open his own business. He studied plans, conceptualized what he wanted, and decided, “I wanted a classy spot. And, little by little, things started falling in place.”

No one was happier than Joanne, who also works at Citigroup in Tampa.

“He always had such a good eye for it,’’ she said. “He wanted a nice gentlemen’s place, and he wanted to do what he loves.”

Omar built the front counter and the Man Cave himself and the Riveras attended an Orlando salon trade show and after lots of testing, decided on El Patron and Billy Jealousy skin and hair products for their clients. Israel, 19, got his license recently and also works in the salon with his dad. Israel also has picked up his mom’s touch for marketing, suggesting some beard oil and conditioner to a pair of customers following their haircuts.

Since opening VIP Elite, Joanne and Omar say business has been good, and getting better through word of mouth. She says they have 350 clients in their system already, and are working hard to retain them and attract others. Joanne believes she and Omar have something special, something she is happy to trumpet daily on social media. She works to keep Omar and his staff of five barber stylists busy, and their job is to deliver on the promise to give customers an experience worth repeating — and a look they will want to keep.

It’s a simple formula, Joanne says.

“We’re not here to be average.”

VIP Elite Barbershop is located at 20309 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. You can follow Joanne and Omar on FACEBOOK or on INSTAGRAM at vip_elite_barbershop. Online, find them at vipelitebarbershop.com or reach them by phone at 813-994-4057.

Florida Orthopaedic Institute opens 10th office, in Wesley Chapel

With 25 years of experience treating patients throughout the Tampa Bay area, the doctors and staff at Florida Orthopaedic Institute are excited about their newest office, located in the Shoppes of Wesley Chapel on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., directly across from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC). The newest office has begun accepting patients, which is helping Florida Orthopaedic Institute meet the increasing demand for specialized orthopaedic care that can help residents of Pasco County stay active.

The Board-certified doctors and surgeons at Florida Orthopaedic Institute have been recognized globally for their expertise. Headquartered in North Tampa, there are nine other locations for patients who live in or near Bloomingdale, Brandon, Citrus Park, Northdale, Oak Hill/Brooksville, Palm Harbor, South Tampa, Sun City Center and Temple Terrace.

Wesley Chapel is the 10th Florida Orthopaedic Institute office, and will offer physician services, physical therapy and X-rays. Additionally, three Board-certified physicians staff the new office:

Christopher Baker, M.D., a fellowship trained specialist in sports medicine and shoulder reconstruction; Brian Palumbo, M.D., who specializes in hip and knee replacement surgery, with a focus on diagnosing and treating hip and knee arthritis, and Timothy Epting, D.O., who focuses on injuries and disorders of the foot and ankle, as well as general orthopaedic conditions.

In order to maintain the highest level of orthopaedic skill, Florida Orthopaedic Institute only employs doctors who have fellowship training.

“This additional training is just part of what sets us apart,” says Dr. Baker, “especially when the sophisticated work of joints is involved. In order to keep our patients active, the precision of the treatment is paramount to success.”

Dr. Baker has been with Florida Orthopaedic Institute for two years and has practiced in the area for five. He graduated cum laude with his M.D. degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville and completed his residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His fellowship at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas (in Spartanburg, SC) gave him an extra year of study in sports medicine and shoulder reconstruction, making him the only fellowship-trained shoulder specialist in eastern Pasco County.

Dr. Baker has been very influential in Pasco County’s high school athletics since he assisted in opening the sports medicine programs at Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills high schools. He also treats professional athletes and has served as the orthopaedic & sports medicine physician for the Tampa Bay Storm Arena Football League team.

Dr. Baker does more than just care for athletes. He also treats patients who have shoulder pain stemming from aging or injury. Many patients avoid shoulder treatment because they are afraid they will need surgery or because of the misconception that pain is a normal part of aging, but Dr. Baker always informs his patients about available alternatives.

“There are a lot of options other than surgery, like physical therapy or cortisone injections,’’ he says. “Our mission is to do what is best for the individual patient.”

Even when surgery is necessary, Dr. Baker says he does not go straight to invasive surgical techniques. He uses the latest technologies and says that many repairs are done with an arthroscope to minimize incisions. Other doctors at Florida Orthopaedic Institute, like Dr. Palumbo, also believe that minimizing surgical trauma and muscle damage should be a high priority for any surgeon.

Before studying medicine, Dr. Palumbo served in the Special Operations Command for the U.S. Air Force. He later earned his M.D. degree from the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he also served as a resident in the Department of Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. He also attended a one-year surgical fellowship at the combined residency program at Harvard Medical School’s Harvard Orthopaedics in Cambridge, MA, and at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital Department of Adult Reconstruction in Boston.

Dr. Palumbo specializes in hip and knee arthritis management, joint replacement surgery and the treatment of problematic or painful hip and knee joint replacements. He is Board-certified by the American Association of Hip & Knee Surgeons and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

One method Dr. Palumbo uses to minimize surgical trauma is the direct anterior approach (DAA) for hip replacement surgery. He explains that, “Rather than cutting through or damaging muscles, (with the DAA approach) you’re simply spreading certain muscles to the side, using their natural tissue planes. It’s like opening a window versus breaking through it.”

For knee replacement candidates, Dr. Palumbo offers partial (rather than total) knee replacements whenever possible. He feels that sparing hip and knee joint muscles and preserving bone (when possible) can lead to improved and faster recovery and exceptional long-term outcomes.

Dr. Palumbo firmly believes in the importance of fellowship-trained, specialized surgeons. “The added training and expertise this provides allows us to care for complex failed and painful joint replacement issues,” he says. “ Approximately 30 percent of joint replacements I perform are re-do replacements for old or failed joint replacements.”

Educating patients is a core philosophy at the Florida Orthopaedic Institute, whose surgeons encourage patients to seek out options to ensure that they are getting a doctor who is experienced in treating their particular type of injury.

Dr. Epting is new to Florida Orthopaedic Institute, bringing expertise in injuries and disorders of the foot and ankle. He also is Board-certified in orthopaedic surgery, with fellowship training from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Prior to joining the Florida Orthopaedic Institute team, Dr. Epting served three years as an attending orthopaedic surgeon at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, FL. He also served as an orthopaedic surgeon in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 2010. “My military experience and fellowship training allow me to explore all options for my patients so they can receive the best possible care,” he says.

You can visit Florida Orthopaedic Institute’s new Wesley Chapel office at 2653 BBD, or visit FloridaOrtho.com for more information. Florida Orthopaedic Institute is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Call (800) FL-ORTHO to make an appointment or to talk to a staff member. — Submitted to & edited by Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.