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Our Services
Whether you want to boost your performance for that upcoming 5K or your son tears his ACL during football practice, Cleveland Clinic Sports Health can help. Our comprehensive services include sports and exercise medicine, orthopaedic surgery and sports-specific rehabilitation, along with specialty programs to help you in your sport every day, or to help you safely recover from a sports injury.
Injury Care & Management
Whether knee pain is affecting your performance or you’ve torn your rotator cuff, accurate diagnosis is crucial. Both our medical and surgical specialists use the latest diagnostic technology to evaluate your injury and develop a specialized care plan to return you to your pre-injury performance as quickly as possible.
Sports & Exercise Medicine
Athletes have unique needs. A sport and exercise medicine physician’s scope of care includes diagnosing and managing acute injuries, musculoskeletal conditions and illnesses (both chronic and acute) that can potentially affect performance. Common conditions treated and services provided may include:
- Acute and overuse injuries
- Joint injections
- Concussion evaluation and management
- Injury prevention
- Return-to-play decisions for the sick or injured athlete
- Athletes with chronic or acute illnesses (such as mono, asthma, hypertension or diabetes)
- Athletes with chronic musculoskeletal conditions (chronic muscle injuries, arthritis of various joints)
- Exercise and performance counseling
Sport-Specific Rehabilitation
We understand athletes. That’s why we’ve designed an entire range of sport-specific rehabilitation and performance programs to help you – no matter your game, skill level or condition. Whether you’ve been injured or simply want to improve your performance, we’ve assembled a team of all the experts you’ll need: physical therapists, athletic trainers, exercise physiologists, physical therapy assistants, certified strength and conditioning specialists, and sports physicians.
Each of our sport-specific programs provides rehabilitative care for athletes who suffer an injury. Unlike traditional rehabilitation, we offer sportspecific rehabilitation by experts who are familiar with (and often play) your sport and can identify the needs that are critical to your recovery.
Services provided include:
- Comprehensive physical therapy evaluations
- Individualized functional exercise programs.
- Manual and soft tissue therapy treatment to restore range of motion and strength
- Sports-specific rehabilitation programs often, including biomechanical video analysis.
Our team’s emphasis is on effectively transitioning all patients from rehabilitation to peak athletic performance
Chiropractic Sports Medicine
You can be confident that your Cleveland Clinic sports and exercise medicine specialist will recommend nonsurgical care whenever possible. One of the newest approaches, chiropractic sports medicine, has proven effective in treating a wide range of acute and chronic athletic injuries, including:
- Overuse injuries
- Shoulder pain and frozen shoulder
- Peripheral nerve entrapment syndromes
Our certified chiropractic sports physician is skilled at identifying problems with body mechanics and eliminating the source of pain without surgical intervention.
Integrative Medicine
After an injury, every athlete hopes to heal and get back to the game as quickly as possible. Our Sports Health team collaborates with experts from Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Integrative Medicine to provide services with a special focus on supporting the body’s natural abilities to heal after a sports-related injury or condition, using techniques such as:
- Acupuncture
- Massage therapy
- Holistic therapy
- Hypnosis and guided imagery
- Reiki
Combined with standard treatments, integrative medicine techniques can reduce pain and swelling and improving circulation, increase range of motion, boost strength and stamina, speed recovery from injuries, prevent injury and re-injury, enhance relaxation, and improve focus and athletic performance.
Orthopedic Surgery
As a patient of Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, you’ll have access to our surgical team to treat torn ligaments, broken bones or damaged cartilage using minimally invasive techniques whenever possible, to reduce pain, scarring and recovery time.
Our surgeries are typically done as outpatient procedures, with patients undergoing regional anesthetic rather than general anesthesia – leading to quicker recovery.
Orthopaedic surgeons work side by side with sports and exercise medicine physicians in the office and on the sidelines. Both specialize in diagnosing and managing musculoskeletal injuries that occur acutely and over time.
Sports Nutrition Program
Optimal nutrition is important for maximizing your stamina and ability to perform. Our sports health dietitians can help you stay healthy, avoid injury or accelerate your healing. Nutritional requirements vary by sport, so our dietitians will work with you one-on-one to design a nutrition plan that helps you achieve you goals, including:
- Improving your diet and hydration status to maximize your performance or workout
- Assist with weight loss or gain, increase muscle
- Prevention of bone loss and injuries
- Injury recovery nutrition
- Playing your best with a chronic condition, such as diabetes or heart disease
Pediatric and Adolescent Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery
Children aren’t just small adults, so they need specialized care for any sports-related injuries or conditions. Our dedicated team of sports medicine experts is specifically trained to provide comprehensive assessment and treatment for both nonsurgical and surgical issues in children, teens and young adults, including:
- ACL injury
- Shoulder instability
- Joint cartilage problems, especially involving the knee and elbow
- Overuse injuries
- Concussions
- Sport-specific rehabilitation
We also are actively involved in ongoing research with other U.S. children’s hospitals to improve understanding and treatment for various pediatric sports injuries.
Concussion Evaluation and Management
Cleveland Clinic’s Concussion Center, a collaborative effort between the Center for Sports Health, Neurological Institute and Cleveland Clinic Children’s, is dedicated to evaluating and managing athletes who have suffered a concussion.
Our team is made up of sports and exercise medicine physicians, neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, pediatricians, physical therapists, certified athletic trainers, vestibular therapists, radiologists, neuro-ophthalmologists and researchers, all dedicated to getting you back to play safely.
Competitive Edge
All athletes deserve the very best sports-related care and treatment that’s one-on-one and leading edge. At Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, this involves conditioning to become stronger and faster, maximizing abilities, treating injuries if they do occur and providing the training and skills to help improve future performance.
Cleveland Clinic Sports Health brings together top orthopaedic surgeons, sports and exercise medicine physicians, physician assistants, physical therapists, athletic trainers, registered dietitians, radiologists and exercise physiologists to keep athletes in the game.
Our experts treat athletes in all sports, all ages and skill levels. This means your entire family will have access to the same specialists who treat Cleveland’s professional sports teams.
Appointments & Locations
To make an appointment with a sports health physician, call:
- Cleveland Appointments: 216.444.2606
- Akron Appointments: 330.344.2663
- Canton Appointments: 330.489.1362
- Dover Appointments: 330.343.3335
Learn More
- Find a Cleveland Clinic Sports Health physician.
- Learn more about our programs and services.
- Research your sports injury.
- Sign up for Competitive Edge, our free sports health newsletter.
- View a list of sports health educational programs for coaches, athletes and parents.
Virtual Second Opinion
If you cannot travel to Cleveland Clinic, help is available. You can connect with Cleveland Clinic specialists from any location in the world via a phone, tablet, or computer, eliminating the burden of travel time and other obstacles. If you’re facing a significant medical condition or treatment such as surgery, this program provides virtual access to a Cleveland Clinic physician who will review the diagnosis and treatment plan. Following a comprehensive evaluation of medical records and labs, you’ll receive an educational second opinion from an expert in their medical condition covering diagnosis, treatment options or alternatives as well as recommendations regarding future therapeutic considerations. You’ll also have the unique opportunity to speak with the physician expert directly to address questions or concerns.
Locations
Sports Health and rehabilitation services are offered at convenient locations throughout northeast Ohio.
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