Dr. Alexander Connaughton, MD

My waiting time in reception was less than a minute, as was my waiting time for the doctor. I had an excellent appointment with Dr. Connaughton and was particularly impressed with the time and patience he provided while reviewing and discussing my MRI. I thought that the visit was thorough, that he professionally and concisely provided explanations and my options. I would be happy to see Dr. Connaughton again if needed, but with a little luck, I won't need to see him again!

I saw him for shoulder blade pain knowing I had a partially torn rotator cuff, however I was complaining of upper trap and or levator scapular pain. He said the pain is a trigger point and I did not injury my trap or levator scapula, those injuries are rare and painful. He sent me to pt. I had no improvement with pt. When I followed back up with him after 8 weeks of pt and he said there was nothing wrong and I basically needed to move it more. He implied anxiety can cause pain or that the brain can make up or confuse pain signals. I still reported pain, and still could not lift my arm and he dismissed me and said I didn’t need to see him anymore. Come to find out I had a torn levator scapulae that needed surgical repair. I cried in frustration when talking to him about the pain and how I can’t do anything, driving, laundry, dishes, and he basically just told me to push through. That I needed to move it and not baby it, but also don’t do anything to aggravate it.

Dr. Connaughton was professional, informative and took a great deal of time explaining my condition and options. He was extremely mindful of any pain I was experiencing. I would highly recommend him.

He seemed thorough and knowledgeable when I was at the visit. However, he gave me some passive exercises that didn’t go so well. After a shoulder dislocation on Sunday, at the follow up w/Dr C. he told me I should dangle and swing my arm to improve mobility and circulation only to find out that this caused the shoulder to dislocate again a few days later. Since this was the second dislocation, now, I had to be sedated because the muscles were in spasm and inflamed. I was in extreme pain and could have avoided all of it had I known that this motion would cause a new dislocation.

From the start he had absolutely no compassion for how much pain I was in. Just kept telling me to push though it as I was practically scream crying from the pain. Seemed to really not listen to a word I said nor take any of it seriously. I've never felt so completely dismissed by a doctor. He refused to treat my pain, wanted to just give me some home exercises and really showed no concern whatsoever for my well being. Definitely not going back to him.

I thought he was quite helpful, and was excellent at listening to my issues.

The moment I KNEW this Dr didn't believe a single thing I said was when he decided to "test" my mobility because he couldn't believe the legitimate connective tissue disorder diagnosis from a genetecist that was in my chart, no, he HAD to see it for himself. Did he need to see the mobility in my other joints? No, I wasn't there for those. But he just had to anyways. That was the moment I knew I had wasted my time with this Dr

He's a Great listener, care about his patients, very detail , communication and explaining on your condition very Professional , I highly Recommend Dr. Connaughton 100% A+!

Dr. Connaughton was rude and abrupt. Zero bedside manner. The medical student who was shadowing him was a much nicer person. The doc spent about 3 minutes examining me and recommended PT which was a total waste of time and money. Ended up getting an MRI through my primary and found a new orthopedic doc with great results. Go to someone else.