Hill Hastings II, M.D., has been in practice at the Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center since 1981, having completed Orthopaedic surgery training at Harvard University. He is a Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Indiana University Medical Center. Dr. Hastings has special expertise in arthroscopy, reconstruction and replacement surgery of the elbow, wrist and hand.
His special interests also include fracture management, elbow and wrist reconstruction, and the treatment of paralytic upper extremity disorders and arthroscopic treatment of shoulder problems.
Dr. Hastings is co-inventor of the Biomet Discovery™ Elbow Replacement System. He designed and invented, in collaboration with the AO Hand Study Group, the AO Wrist Fusion Plate, now the gold-standard method for wrist fusion. He helped develop in collaboration with the AO Hand Study Group the Distal Radius Plating System, the current AO Modular Hand Set, and the Phalangeal Percutaneous Screw Fixation System. For these developments, he received the AO/ASIF Innovation Prize. He has consulted on the Combi Distal Radius Plating System and currently is working with industry collaboration in the development of additional clavicle and upper extremity fracture systems. Much of his research has centered on the biomechanics of the PIP joint, which now forms the basis for dynamic external fixation of the PIP joint and other methods for treating complex proximal interphalangeal joint fractures and dislocations. He designed the Hemi-Hamate Resurfacing Arthroplasty, which is now widely used in reconstruction for complex volar fracture/dorsal dislocations. In 1994 he was awarded the Sumner L. Koch award by the Chicago Society for Surgery of the Hand and also the Emanuel B. Kaplan award by the New York Society for Surgery of the Hand for his investigations on the vascularity of the distal radius and vascularized techniques for bone grafting to the carpus. These contributions were judged to have "the greatest future clinical application to the practice of hand surgery." His research in treatment of complex elbow contractures led to his co-development of the Lateral collateral preserving Approach to the Elbow for Release of Complex Contractures. This has become one of the gold-standard methods for open surgical correction of complex elbow contractures. His research also has led to a New Classification System for Primary Osteoarthritis of the Elbow.
Dr. Hastings is an active member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, past member of the American Orthopaedic Association, the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery, the International College of Surgeons, as well as other local, national, and international societies. He has been awarded honorary memberships to the Canadian Hand Society, the Venezuelan Hand Society, and the Hellenic Society for Surgery of the Hand. Dr. Hastings is also a Medical Consultant for the USA Gymnastics National team. He is a consultant and developer for Biomet in its new "Intellifit" fracture repair solutions for the clavicle, elbow and wrist.
Over the past twenty-five years, Dr. Hastings has organized and chaired multiple instructional courses for the American Society for Surgery of the Hand [ASSH] pertaining to internal fixation of the hand and upper extremity. In 1989, he received the prestigious honor to represent the ASSH as the Sterling Bunnell Traveling Fellow. In 2003 Dr. Hastings organized the annual meeting of the ASSH program as the Program Chair. His academic research and lectures has taken him all over the world for training and educating of other physicians. Dr. Hastings has over 100 publications to his credit, and has given over 500 national and international presentations.
Dr. Hastings competed in three sports in college. He enjoys a number of outdoor activities including hiking and mountain climbing, horseback riding, skiing, biking, scuba diving, kayaking/stand up paddle boarding, photography and international travel with his wife Bettie of 33 years. When not working he and Bettie are involved in training their two Portuguese Water dogs and horses and enjoying friends and contributing to the community of Telluride, Colorado. They have two daughters, one in a PhD program in Grief and Trauma Counseling and the other in Medical School.