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South Louisiana Medical Associates
Dr. Joseph M. Garcia • Board Certified Primary Care Sports Medicine Physician • www.slma.cc
Dr. Joseph M. Garcia is a native of Houma and graduate of Vandebilt Catholic High School, and is proud to be home providing primary care and sports medicine services in our community.
“During medical school I found myself gravitating towards primary care because the physicians I was shadowing had extensive relationships with their patients. I love to talk, so having conversations, and getting to know someone comes naturally,” said Dr. Garcia. “I decided to specialize in sports medicine because I’ve played sports my whole life, and I thought what better way to practice medicine than in a field of my interest.”
Following his residency, at Louisiana State University in Alexandria, Dr. Garcia completed his fellowship in Primary Sports Medicine at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. During this additional year of training in primary sports medicine, Dr. Garcia was taught the art of the physical exam, allowing him to be very thorough with his patients.
Through strong relationships with local physical therapists, as well as the SLMA network of physicians Dr. Garcia takes pride in extensive patient care. “There are so many very knowledgeable, and very hardworking physicians at SLMA. Working for SLMA allows my patients access to these talented physicians in a timely manner. I can make referrals with a simple phone call to one of my colleagues,” he shared.
The best advice Dr. Garcia offers his patients is to focus on a healthy lifestyle. “A healthy lifestyle is one of the foundations of primary care, but it can also help prevent injuries going forward,” he said.
While Dr. Garcia helps typical athletes, he often helps industrial athletes as well. “Industrial athletes are the hard working construction workers in our community. While they are not scoring touchdowns or hitting home runs, they are doing physical activity, heavy lifting, and repetitive motion that puts strain on their bodies. There are a lot of chromic issues that I treat that are not sports issues at all, they are musculoskeletal problems that I can help fix,” Dr. Garcia explained.
