Not your average doctor Not your average doctor (July 29, 2005)

Pleasanton native specializes in young athletes
By Carol Bogart

Unlike some physicians, Christy Boyd's not all hung up on the "doctor" thing. After all, many Pleasanton residents have known her since she was an 8-year-old kid attending Donlon Elementary, training for her first 10K marathon by running up and down Hopyard Road, with her mother Janet trailing on her bike.

So when a young patient, whose parents address Boyd by her first name, calls her "Christy" - Dr. Boyd just shrugs and smiles.

That lack of pretense and cheerful confidence has characterized Dr. Christy Boyd since her goal-oriented days running marathons, swimming and playing travel soccer with the Rage. Team captain of the Stanford University track team her junior and senior years, Boyd first ran track at Foothill High School. She is in the Tri-Valley Sports Hall of Fame.

Always precocious, she graduated from high school at 16. After earning her undergraduate degree at Stanford, she achieved her medical degree at UC San Diego. Other impressive training followed.

Then, two months ago, she came home and opened her own practice in Livermore. Now married - her husband's a coach - and expecting her first child, Boyd, 31, has offices at ValleyCare's Lifestyle Rx on Stanley Boulevard.

She explains, "I really like being part of community ... when they come to me and say, 'I go to Foothill and so-and-so's my teacher or so-and-so's my coach,' I know exactly what they're talking about." When a young athlete talks about athletic scholarships and college, Boyd relates to that as well.

Boyd is one of only a handful of California physicians who specialize in young athletes. "People don't know what a pediatric sports medicine specialist is," Boyd relates. "They think 'pediatric' and they think, 'Oh, OK, toddlers, infants, shots.' But in reality, even the guys that are 250 pounds and 18 years old, they still have open growth centers (their bodies aren't done growing), and they still are susceptible to unique injuries."

Most of Boyd's patients tend to be adolescents. Dan Shoemake, 16, and his brother, Brett, 13, both see Boyd. Their mother, Jean, remembers Christy from when she was just the eighth-grader next door.

"We've lived in Pleasanton 20 years," Shoemake said. "And now, lo and behold, I've got kids in sports and she's the authority on sports medicine."

Both of Shoemake's sons play contact sports. Dan, who hopes to go to one of the nation's military academies, also wants to play college football. He remembers vividly how much it hurt the day a hard tackle in junior high blew out his knee.

As a result of the hit, bones in Dan's knee ground together, explains Boyd. Some bone actually began to die. When she first saw Dan, he had a limp and the muscle had begun to atrophy.

First, she referred him to an orthopedic surgeon at Stanford. Then, with her guidance, Dan began exercises designed to strengthen his knee. Today: No limp. No pain. No atrophy.

Dan, who plays fullback for Amador Valley High School, said, "I knew Christy would fix it all up for me."

Without effective treatment, Dan was at risk for early onset osteoarthritis, said Boyd. Not only could it have curtailed his athletic career, it might also have precluded his enlistment in the military.

Meantime, Boyd has prescribed medication that's brought Brett's exercise-induced asthma under control. He no longer has trouble keeping up with teammates. "I used to be, like, really slow," he recalls. "I had to stop and catch my breath. Now, I don't have to."

Thanks to Boyd's unique expertise - formal training both in pediatrics and in sports medicine - ValleyCare has tapped her to be its sports medicine consultant at Lifestyle Rx. For ValleyCare, Boyd advises athletic trainers and coaches at schools throughout Pleasanton.

"Young athletes today compete at a very high level," she explains. "They expect a lot out of their bodies.

"If we're going to have our kids compete at that high of a level, my goal is that their care is at an equally high level," she adds. "That's my whole reason for going into this specialty."

And if her youthful patients don't call her 'Dr. Boyd?'

"I don't mind at all," she said. "To me, being a physician is just added information to help me help the people in my community. It's something I love to do, to really help these young people."
To make an appointment with Dr. Boyd:

Dr. Christy Boyd has flexible clinic hours at Lifestyle Rx on Stanley Boulevard in Livermore and, beginning this fall, may add a Saturday morning walk-in clinic. To make an appointment, call (925) 454-3090.

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