Orthopaedics & New England Peripheral Nerve Center

For appointments, referrals or consultation, please call 603.542.7666

We care about you and your complete return do doing what you love. We have more than 75 years’ combined experience and multispecialty expertise trusted by thousands. Valley Regional offers a variety of the most needed specialty care services. Our patients appreciate the personalized attention they get from us.  We’re responsible for your care before, during and after surgery. Trust your relief, recovery and optimal function to Valley Regional’s Orthopaedic team. We have a reputation for excellence built on skill, knowledge and experience – and we care. It’s a team approach to meeting your every need.

Our orthopaedics team treats adults and children with diseases, injuries and conditions of the musculoskeletal system— the body’s bones, muscles and joints, including ligaments, tendons, and nerves. From fractures, sprains, arthritis, or sports injuries, to full joint replacement, we are prepared to serve you.

We specialize in sports medicine and arthroplasty, and has an experienced and growing upper extremity and hand team… Specializing in minimally invasive and arthroscopic surgery for shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, foot and ankle. There is also a physical therapy team that works with pre- and post-surgical patients, sports injuries and performance enhancements.

“We take pride in knowing you. Our passion is restoring your health and maintaining your lifestyle.”

Our care is extremely individualized.  At Valley Regional Orthopaedics, we take the time to know you and what you are aiming for in terms of outcomes.  We take the time to explain your condition and educate you as to the non-surgical and surgical options available to ensure you are able to do what you want you want to do and live life to the fullest.

For appointments, referrals or consultation, please call (603) 542-7666

Meet Our Providers

Eric Arvidson, MD – shoulder/knee, arthroscopic, reconstruction

Tahsin Ergin, MD – shoulder/knee, arthroscopic, reconstruction

Matthew J. Hawkins, MD, shoulder/knee, arthroscopic, foot/ankle reconstruction

Joshua M. Philbrick, MD – upper extremity, wrist/shoulder, arthroscopic

Eric B. Arvidson, MD

“I care about people and not just their problems.  It’s not knee pain.  It’s a person with knee pain.”

That sums up Dr. Eric B. Arvidson’s philosophy when it comes to treating patients.  That’s why nearly 30 years after completing medical school, Dr. Arvidson continues to feel the same sense of joy from helping repair torn, broken and worn-out parts to restore a better whole.  His passion for helping patients extends beyond a superb operating-room experience to restoring how people function in life.  “I pride myself on treating the whole person, not just their problem.  It’s important to me and to our entire staff that we get to know each patient’s individual goals and desires and proceed from there.”

Dr. Arvidson spent five years at Children’s Hospital in Boston doing speciality training in sports medicine until his practice at Essex Orthopaedics fully matured.  “My Harvard training gave me the option of working in a big downtown hospital, but I decided to devote my time to the people of the Merrimack Valley.”  And his patients are glad he did.  “Our success with our patients has been a great reward.”

• Practice Emphasis: Sports Medicine, General Orthopaedics
• Board-Certified: Orthopaedic Surgery
• Fellowship: Trauma & Adult Reconstruction, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA; Sports Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA
• Residency: Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Program, Boston, MA
• Internship: New England Deaconess, Boston, MA
• MD: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
• BS: Chemistry, Summa Cum Laude, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
• Member: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
• Areas of Interest: Arthroscopic Surgery of the Shoulder & Knee, Sports Medicine, Adult Reconstructive Surgery

Tahsin M. Ergin, MD, FACS

The key to the relationship is trust, and a practical, evidence-based approach helps to build that trust, as does relief of pain and predictably excellent results.  Quality of life – the end goal.

It’s not a race. Dr. Tahsin M. Ergin knows that the key to success with any patient is to spend time with him or her explaining the problem and then providing options and recommendations for a solution.  He estimates that he and the other doctors at Essex Orthopaedics spend sometimes four times as much as other doctors do for patient appointments.  “We’ve never been focused on volume.  We’re focused on quality.  We spend as much time with each patient as each patient needs to completely understand the problem and potential solutions.  We often have patients say ‘Nobody ever explained that to me before.’”

Dr. Ergin’s  undergraduate degree is in biomedical engineering, so the intricacy of human motion and the function of the musculoskeletal system appealed to him.  He is also interested in many sports and has been since childhood, thus orthopaedic surgery and, in particular, sports medicine, were a natural fit. The most compelling facet of both for Dr. Ergin is the opportunity to help people return to the level of function they had before their problem arose or their injury occurred.

“That effort to get patients back to what they most enjoy doing is the thing that drives me now. And when I’m successful in that effort, it’s my greatest reward.”

• Practice Emphasis:  Sports Medicine
• Board-Certified: Orthopaedic Surgery, Sports Medicine
• Fellowship: Sports Medicine, The Graduate Hospital, Philadelphia, PA
• Residency: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
• Internship: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
• MD: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN
• BS: Biomedical Engineering, Boston University College of Engineering, Boston, MA
• Member: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Arthroscopy Association of North America, American College of Surgeons, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine
• Areas of Interest: Arthroscopic Surgery, Sports Medicine, Shoulder & Knee Reconstruction

Matthew J. Hawkins, MD

As a former collegiate athlete, Dr. Matthew J. Hawkins understands the frame of mind of many of his patients and is able to relate to them on a very personal level.  He works with many athletes, helping them to return to the active lifestyle they love, including competitive play.

For Dr. Hawkins, it’s the personal attention that distinguishes Essex Orthopaedics – taking time to explain a patient’s condition and educating them as to the options, surgical and non-surgical, and outcomes, coming to know the patient as an individual.  Having on-site physical therapy through Optima Sports Therapy allows the practice to continue to be actively involved in a patient’s rehabilitation.

“I engage the patient, working to understand their injury or problem completely and — just as importantly — getting their full participation in their care, which is vital to optimal outcomes. I also spend time educating patients on the cause of their condition, how to correct mechanical issues and how to prevent future injury. I always put in the time it takes to do things right; that’s what the patient deserves and needs.”

• Practice Emphasis:  Sports Medicine, Surgery of the Knee, Shoulder, Foot & Ankle
• Board-Certified: Orthopaedic Surgery
• Fellowship: Sports Medicine, Southern California Center for Sports Medicine, Long Beach, CA
• Residency: Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC
• Internship: General Surgery, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC
• MD: Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC
• BS: Biology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO
• Member: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Arthroscopy Association of North America, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine
• Areas of Interest: Sports Medicine; Arthroscopic Surgery; Knee, Shoulder, Foot & Ankle Reconstruction

Joshua M. Philbrick, MD

“I love patients and the doctor patient relationship.” For Dr. Joshua M. Philbrick, his reason for going into medicine is that simple.

And his reason for becoming an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in the hand and upper extremities is just as straightforward. “The hand is an integral part of everyone’s life and it is an amazing feeling to be able to help people and see them get better.”

Having lived and worked outside the state for a number of years, Dr. Philbrick recently returned to New Hampshire because he loves the area, the people and the opportunity to be near family and to be a part of a community-oriented practice. Community service is important to him, having taken two mission trips to Mexico and having been actively engaged in fundraisers for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

• Practice Emphasis: Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery
• Board-Eligible: Orthopaedic Surgery
• Fellowship: Hand Surgery, Excelsior Orthopaedics, Amherst, NY
• Residency: University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, OH
• Internship: University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, OH
• MD: University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, OH
• BS: Pensacola Christian College, Pensacola, FL
• Member: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
• Areas of Interest: Surgery of the Upper Extremity, Arthroscopic Surgery of the Wrist & Shoulder

James P. Wilton, DPM, FACFAS, FAENS
Peripheral Nerve Surgery, Podiatry

Dr. Wilton earned his doctorate in Podiatric Medicine from the Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine in Philadelphia. His surgical residency focused on podiatric reconstructive foot surgery under the direction of Dr. James V. Ganley at Montgomery Hospital in Pennsylvania. He has also trained in lower extremity peripheral nerve surgery at Union Hospital in Baltimore.

• Medical Staff President at Valley Regional Healthcare
• Association of Extremity Nerve Surgeons: previously the president, current board member, co-director of the organization’s basic and advanced lower extremity peripheral nerve surgery training
• Surgical Missions Director for the Fr. Damien Foundation in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he leads missions to treat peripheral nerve problems in leprosy patients

Awards and Recognition

• Honored with the prestigious Dr. Jules Tinel Award from the Association of Extremity Nerve Surgeons in 2011 for the scientific advancement of knowledge regarding human peripheral nerve disorders.
• Practice named in New Hampshire Magazine’s Top Doctors in New Hampshire in 2008.
• Diabetic Neuropathy Association of the Southwest Appreciation of Service Award in 2004.