BSChE ‘90
Working with high school, collegiate and professional athletes in central Alabama, Dr. E. Lyle Cain Jr. has helped heal some of the biggest names in sports by orchestrating treatment from injury.
Cain earned his bachelor’s degree from The University of Alabama in chemical engineering and received his medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.
His orthopaedic surgery residency was completed at the University of Tennessee in Memphis and was followed by a position as chief resident at the University of Tennessee-Campbell Clinic, also in Memphis. Cain later completed an orthopaedic surgery sports medicine fellowship at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham.
After the fellowship, he joined the Alabama Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center and later founded the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center.
Cain’s office, located at St. Vincent’s Birmingham, specializes in orthopaedic surgical sports medicine and arthroscopic treatment of knee, shoulder and elbow injuries. He is certified to treat knee cartilage injuries with articular cartilage implantation and meniscal transplantation.
His research focus is on preventing and evaluating youth sports injuries, biological treatment options, and ulnar collateral ligament injuries. Cain has presented papers and courses for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, AAOS; American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, AOSSM; and the International Society for Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports, ISAKOS. He has also developed and patented several orthopedic surgery devices and a turkey hunting decoy.
During his career, Cain has served as team physician for The University of Alabama for 20 years, medical director for Jacksonville State and the University of West Alabama, and as an orthopaedic consultant for Birmingham Southern College and the Birmingham Barons minor league baseball team.
Through UWA, he leads an outreach program providing medical services to more than 40 schools in the west Alabama area. In addition, Cain is team physician for Mountain Brook, Hoover, Homewood, Hewitt-Trussville, Shades Valley and Oak Grove high schools.
He is on the board of directors of the American Sports Medicine Institute, American Baseball Foundation, Oakworth Capital Bank, and AOSSM. Cain is a member of the AAOS, American Medical Association, Alabama State Medical Association, Southern Medical Association, International Cartilage Repair Society, and the International Knee Society. His career honors include being named the 2021 SEC Orthopedic Team Physician of the Year by the medical staffs of the Southeastern Conference universities, and 2016 Jack C. Hughston, M.D. Sports Medicine Person of the Year by the Southeast Athletic Trainers’ Association.
Cain and his wife, Jill, live in his native Birmingham and have four children, Sarah, Virginia, Edward and George. Both Sarah and Virginia are graduates of The University of Alabama.