Joseph Albano, MD

Joseph Albano, MD

Salt Lake City, Utah

As a lifelong athlete and fitness enthusiast, Dr. Joseph Albano has seen his share of sports injuries. Utah’s premier specialist in Regenerative Medicine plays hockey, cross country, alpine and back country skis, has run ultra-marathons and marathons, and rides road and mountain bikes. More recently, he started racing his bike in the local criterium series and his latest passion is cyclocross racing! He has run in many of the local races including the Wasatch 100, Squaw Peak 50, Wasatch Steeplechase, Jupiter Peak Steeplechase, Ogden Marathon, Top of Utah marathon, and the St. George Marathon. And accordingly, he’s been injured. Meanwhile, he still finds time to coach for the teams his two boys play on. It all adds up to a lot of stress on his joints. So naturally, when it comes to orthopedic work, Dr. Albano can say, “Yes. I’ve had that done.”

The Yonkers, New York, native initially came to the Rocky Mountains to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in 1991. Since then, he’s gained over two decades of medical experience and a love for the community and sports medicine. He received his medical degree from SUNY Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York. He completed a general surgery internship at Wright-Patterson AFB/Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, a family practice residency at the University of Utah and a Sports Medicine fellowship at Michigan State University. In the midst of that training, he intermittently worked in rural Salmon, Idaho, where the local people taught him “a ton about orthopedic injuries.”

Dr. Albano received a medical school scholarship from the United States Air Force and has been all over the world with the USAF and USAF Reserves as a Flight Surgeon, visiting such garden spots as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to name a few.

He stays abreast of the cutting edge medical research and technology, continually teaching national courses on the use of musculoskeletal ultrasound for diagnostic and needle-guided purposes, Platelet Rich Plasma, fat grafting, bone marrow aspiration and other cellular injections for musculoskeletal purposes.

Dr. Albano truly wants the best for his patients and strives daily to improve his knowledge, skills, and treatments to better meet their needs. Many patients come to him with with conditions for which surgery has been recommended, seeking an alternative solution. Dr. Albano aims to give his patients a broad spectrum of treatment options for sports related pain and injuries. His patients have many options: stem cell sources including fat, bone marrow and umbilical tissue; PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) for growth factors; and amniotic and placental tissue. These treatments have become a major part of his remarkable career and present a low-risk alternative, creating what he believes to be a highly desirable treatment option.

Dr. Albano’s greatest interest as a physician lies in the non-surgical treatments of common tendon, nerve, and cartilage problems, including rotator cuff tears, osteoarthritis, lateral epicondylosis, plantar fasciosis, patellar tendinosis, Achilles tendinosis, meniscal and labral tears, carpal tunnel syndrome, and cubital tunnel syndrome. Musculoskeletal ultrasound is used to diagnose many of these conditions in his office. Various Regenerative Medicine applications, including Platelet Rich Plasma, and structural autologous fat and bone marrow grafting, may be employed for treatment. These treatments have been successful for many of his patients – and himself – over the years.

Dr. Albano finally retired as a Senior Flight Surgeon in the US Air Force Reserves with over 27 years of military service. He last served in the 466th Fighter Squadron, 419th Fighter Wing, at Hill Air Force Base, where he spent most of his career flying in F-16s, accumulating over 500 hours in this aircraft. He also serves as a team physician for US Speed Skating, US Military Endurance Sports, Real Salt Lake, and Westminster College Athletics. Professional and world class athletes are among his clientele.