Dr. Marc Rossell

Dr. Marc Rossell is Andorra's leading orthopedic and sports medicine surgeon, operating at Hospital Nostra Senyora de Meritxell and the Clínica del Pirineu in Andorra la Vella. With over 20 years of experience in ski injury surgery, knee and shoulder arthroscopic procedures, and sports trauma management, Dr. Rossell occupies a uniquely important clinical role in one of Europe's most active ski destinations. Andorra's Grandvalira ski resort is among the largest ski areas in the Pyrenees, attracting over 2 million skier visits annually from Spain, France, Portugal, and across Europe — generating a substantial volume of skiing-related musculoskeletal injuries that require expert orthopedic care.

Dr. Rossell trained at the Universitat de Barcelona Faculty of Medicine and completed his orthopedic surgery residency at the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona before undertaking a sports surgery fellowship at the Clinique du Sport in Paris — one of France's foremost sports medicine and orthopedic centres. He also completed an observership at the Swiss Olympic Medical Centre in Lausanne, where he gained further expertise in elite athlete injury management and ACL prevention programmes, knowledge he has applied to Andorra's competitive ski racing teams.

At the Meritxell hospital and Clínica del Pirineu, Dr. Rossell manages the full spectrum of ski-related and sports-related orthopedic injuries. ACL tears are among the most common serious injuries in alpine skiing, and Dr. Rossell performs a high annual volume of ACL reconstructions — one of the key factors that distinguishes an expert knee surgeon. He has developed and published an ACL injury prevention screening and conditioning programme for use within Andorra's ski schools and competitive ski racing organisations.

Dr. Rossell serves as the medical advisor to the Andorra Olympic Committee and provides orthopedic medical coverage for Andorran national ski teams at training and competition. He also contributes to the mountain rescue medical protocols for Grandvalira and Vallnord ski resorts, ensuring rapid orthopedic assessment and stabilisation for injured skiers on the mountain.

Dr. Rossell completed his medical degree at the Universitat de Barcelona, Faculty of Medicine, one of Spain's most prestigious institutions for medical education. He undertook his orthopedic surgery residency at the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, one of Catalonia's major teaching hospitals, receiving comprehensive training in adult trauma and elective orthopedic surgery including fracture management, joint arthroplasty, and arthroscopic surgery. He completed a specialist sports surgery fellowship at the Clinique du Sport in Paris, focusing on knee ligament reconstruction, meniscal surgery, and shoulder stabilisation in athletes. He also undertook an observership at the Swiss Olympic Medical Centre (SOMC) in Lausanne, gaining expertise in elite athlete injury assessment and ACL prevention protocol design. He is a member of ESSKA (European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy) and the Sociedad Española de Artroscopia (SEA), and participates regularly in ESSKA and ISAKOS educational programmes. He holds an advanced qualification in sports traumatology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Dr. Rossell's clinical practice is built around the management of sports and ski injuries with particular depth in knee and shoulder arthroscopic surgery. ACL reconstruction is his primary surgical speciality; he performs both hamstring graft and bone-patellar tendon-bone (BPTB) graft reconstructions depending on patient characteristics and surgical anatomy, and manages the full post-operative rehabilitation pathway in collaboration with physiotherapy teams at both the Meritxell hospital and local specialist physiotherapy practices.

For meniscal injuries, he performs arthroscopic meniscal repair (preserving native tissue where feasible) and partial meniscectomy for irreparable tears. In shoulder surgery, he performs arthroscopic rotator cuff repair for partial and full-thickness tears, arthroscopic Bankart repair and Latarjet procedure for recurrent anterior shoulder instability, and SLAP repair for superior labral injuries.

In ski injury management specifically, Dr. Rossell provides comprehensive assessment and treatment for the full range of alpine skiing injuries including knee ligament injuries (ACL, PCL, MCL), tibial plateau fractures, ankle fractures, shoulder dislocations, clavicle fractures, and thumb ligament injuries (skier's thumb / UCL injury). He performs open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) for displaced fractures and manages ski boot syndrome (exertional compartment syndrome of the lower leg) in competitive skiers. Post-operatively, he coordinates with rehabilitation teams and, where patients are tourists returning home, provides comprehensive discharge summaries for onward physiotherapy providers.

Dr. Rossell has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in journals including Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy (KSSTA), the American Journal of Sports Medicine, and Injury. His research is internationally recognised for its focus on ski injury epidemiology in Andorra — a unique and practically significant body of work given the country's status as a major European ski destination with a high density of specialist ski injury orthopedic experience. His publications include a prospective epidemiological study of ski injuries at Grandvalira spanning over five ski seasons, widely cited in the ski medicine literature. He has also published on ACL injury risk factors in alpine ski racers and recreational skiers, and on the outcomes of ACL prevention neuromuscular conditioning programmes implemented in Andorran ski schools. He presented his ACL prevention research at the ESSKA Congress and received a Presentation Prize for its clinical and public health significance. He collaborates with ESSKA's Injury Prevention Committee and is a co-investigator on a multicentre European ski injury registry.

Dr. Rossell's practice serves an inherently international patient population given Andorra's ski tourism economy. The majority of his surgical patients are visitors from Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and other European countries who sustain injuries during skiing visits to Grandvalira or Vallnord. He conducts consultations in Catalan, Spanish, French, and English. Emergency orthopedic assessments are available at the Meritxell hospital's emergency department on a 24-hour basis, with mountain rescue medical teams providing first-line assessment and transport from the ski resorts. For patients who require surgery and can be stabilised, Dr. Rossell is available for urgent procedures at the Meritxell hospital. For tourists requiring post-operative rehabilitation on return to their home countries, he provides comprehensive discharge documentation, surgical reports, and direct communication with receiving orthopaedic and physiotherapy teams. Travel insurance companies with ski accident policies can be billed directly through the hospital's international billing services.

Dr. Rossell has received the Societat Andorrana de Medicina (SAM) Sports Medicine Award in recognition of his exceptional contribution to ski injury orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine in Andorra. He received the ESSKA Presentation Prize at the European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy Congress for his ACL prevention programme research. He serves as the official Medical Advisor to the Andorra Olympic Committee and provides orthopedic coverage for Andorran national ski teams at FIS World Cup and Olympic qualification events. He has contributed to the International Ski Federation (FIS) Medical Guide on alpine skiing injury management. His epidemiological research on Andorran ski injuries has been referenced in European Commission reports on sports injury prevention.