Sports Medicine

Overview

You don’t have to be a professional athlete to experience the benefits of a sports medicine program. Whether you’re a scholastic athlete, a fitness enthusiast or simply enjoy a sporting activity as a hobby, Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital’s Sports Medicine offers you a comprehensive diagnostic, treatment and prevention fitness facility.

Injuries sustained while playing sports are not uncommon. Taking precautions and knowing when to seek treatment are essential to staying in the game for as long as possible.

At Mercy Hospital, we understand the importance of mobility and specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of musculoskeletal, sports and orthopaedic injuries. Our professional treatment team includes physicians, physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, athletic trainers and exercise physiologists. Each team member has extensive experience working with athletes and individuals of all ages, and they use their expertise to assist you.

In addition to treating sport-related injuries, our Sports Medicine also provides:

• Comprehensive orthopaedic and occupational rehab programs
• Sports performance training
• ImPACT Concussion Management
• Coaches clinics

If you are a non-traditional exerciser in the Canton area and would like to learn how Mercy can help people with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, pulmonary disease and other chronic conditions, call 330.966.8997.

Services

For acute, musculoskeletal injuries, Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital’s Sports Medicine offers a physical therapy program that includes the evaluation and treatment, aquatic therapy, custom orthotic fabrication and fitting, isokinetic evaluation and rehabilitation, rehabilitation of post-surgical conditions, and custom fitting of braces, supports and other protective devices.

In addition, our certified athletic trainers — under the direction of Mark J. Hudak, medical director of our Sports Medicine program — help prevent and treat injuries for anyone who is physically active and specialize in prevention, assessment, immediate care and rehabilitation.

Our athletic trainers have a bachelor’s or master’s degree from an accredited college or university and serve Hoover High School, Lake High School, Malone University and Walsh University.

Treatment and Rehabilitation for Sports-related Injuries

• Acute care therapy
• Injury prevention consultations
• Injury rehabilitation
• Pre-season conditioning programs for any sports activity
• Pre-season physicals for recreational or scholastic athletes
• Athletic training coverage for professional, collegiate, scholastic and club sports
• Coaches continuing education program
• Community education through our Speakers’ Bureau
• Treatment hours to fit your schedule for Acute Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Services
• Dry needling neuro trigger points
• ImPACT Concussion Management
• Evaluation and treatment of acute musculoskeletal injuries
• Aquatic therapy
• Custom orthotic fabrication and fitting
• Isokinetic evaluation and rehabilitation
• Rehabilitation of post-surgical conditions
• Custom fitting of braces, supports and other protective devices
• Kineseotaping techniques
• Sound-assisted soft tissue mobilization (SASTM)

Care for Chronic Running Ailments

Take advantage of what professional and Olympic runners are using to stay healthy! Mercy Hospital’s Sports Medicine professionals are trained in the advanced manual techniques of sound-assisted soft-tissue mobilization (SASTM), cupping and dry needling. These processes assist in cleaning up scar tissue and stimulate your body to repair and remodel muscle tissue.

This technique helps common ailments, such as:

• Plantar Fasciitis
• IT Band Syndrome
• Achilles Tendinitis
• Calf Strain
• Hamstring Strain
• Quadriceps Strain
• Patellofemoral Pain
• Patella Tendonitis

Sports Enhancement Programs

With each change of season come familiar sounds from athletic fields, golf courses and gymnasiums across the landscape. Mercy sports specialists help athletes ages 10 and up improve their skills and prepare for the next season. Whether you’re a youth football player wanting to improve your speed, agility and endurance, a high school volleyball player trying to avoid a lower extremity injury or a golf enthusiast wanting to improve your game, Mercy′s experienced team of individuals with degrees and certifications can help.

• For more information on sports performance training.

Support for Coaches

To support area coaches, Mercy Hospital’s Sports Medicine program hosts quarterly coaches’ clinics in accordance with the guidelines approved by the Ohio Department of Education. The cost of the Clinic is $20.00, and each coach attending will be able to apply for the state permit upon completion of the clinic. Approved by the Ohio Department of Education, the clinic meets guidelines on the length and content of clinics held in Ohio:

• Must be two hours long.
• Must cover life-threatening injuries, non-life-threatening injuries, emergency action plan and injury management.

Mark J. Hudak, medical director of our Sports Medicine program, and Mercy athletic trainers, instructs the clinic through lecture and hands-on techniques to give coaches the ability to keep their athletes healthy and in the game. Mercy’s clinics are for coaches of all sports, but seating is limited. For more information about the next clinic, call 330.966.8920.

We offer sports enhancement programs to help your athletes improve their skills during the off-season and prevent injury. Customized training programs focus on improving speed, power, agility, flexibility, endurance and core strength.

Occupational Related Rehab Programs

We offer occupational-related rehabilitation programs to treat patients with injuries that occur at the workplace. In conjunction with Mercy Work Health & Safety Services, patients at Mercy Health Center of North Canton can walk from the physician′s examination room to our therapy clinic — all within the same facility.

Our Team

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Appointments & Locations

Whether you’re a competitive athlete, playing recreational sports or someone who just wants to be active, our sports medicine specialists can help you become – and stay – active in the sport or activity you love.

Sports Medicine Locations

Schedule a consult with a Mercy  Hospital sports medicine specialist at one of our convenient locations.

North Canton Urgent and Outpatient Care
6200 Whipple Avenue, NW
North Canton, OH 44720
330.966.8920

Mercy Hospital Medical Office Building
1330 Mercy Dr. NW
Canton, OH 44708
330.489.1000

Sports Medicine Therapy Locations

North Canton Urgent and Outpatient Care
6200 Whipple Avenue, NW
North Canton, OH 44720
330.966.8920

Lake Health Center
432 King Church Ave., SW
Uniontown, OH 44685
330.877.5000

Jackson Urgent & Outpatient Care
7337 Caritas Circle NW
Massillon, OH 44646
330.830.6130

Concussion Management

New research highlighting the dangers for athletes suffering concussions has heightened awareness about the short and potentially long-term effects associated with these brain injuries.

Mark J. Hudak, medical director of Mercy Sports Medicine, and Mercy Sports Medicine athletic trainers and physical therapists are part of Mercy’s team specially trained in the evaluation and management of concussions.

Here’s how it works. Athletes complete a computerized baseline test to evaluate multiple aspects of neurocognitive functioning, including verbal and visual memory, brain processing speed and reaction time. If a concussion is suspected during the season, a follow-up test is administered to see if the results have changed from the baseline. This comparison helps to diagnose and implement appropriate management of the concussion. For athletes where baseline data is unavailable, ImPACT has a database of thousands of non-injured athletes, which can be used for effective evaluation and comparisons.

“When an athlete is not fully recovered from an initial concussion, they are at greater risk for recurrent, cumulative, and potentially life-threatening consequences of a second concussive injury,” Hudak says. “Research reveals that younger athletes recover more slowly than college and professional athletes after a concussion making medical management even more important.”

Signs and symptoms of a concussion can occur days or even weeks or months following the impact. An athlete may experience chronic headaches, fatigue, sleep difficulties, personality changes, dizziness, and deficits in short-term memory and problem-solving.

A study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, revealed 40.5 percent of high school athletes returned to play too soon after suffering a concussion. Even more alarming, one in six football players who sustained a concussion and lost consciousness returned to play the same day.

“Our hope is to help local athletes safely return to play after experiencing a concussion to prevent long-term complications,” Hudak says.

Mark J. Hudak, MD, is medical director of Mercy Sports Medicine and a concussion management specialist for adults and children. If you think a concussion has occurred, Dr. Hudak can help diagnose, treat and manage the concussion for safe return to play.

About ImPACT

ImPACT is a user-friendly computer-based testing program specifically designed for the management of sports-related concussion. The instrument has been designed after approximately 10-years of University-based, grant-supported research. ImPACT is currently the most widely utilized computerized program in the world and is implemented effectively across high school, collegiate, and professional levels of sport participation.

Sports Performance Training

With each change of season come familiar sounds from athletic fields across the landscape: coaches’ whistles, thump of a foot against a soccer ball, pop of bat hitting a softball, whack of a club hitting a golf ball and smack of shoulder pads. For many kids from grade school through college, it’s time to embark on the challenge of starting a new sport or improving their skills from last season. For many adults, it’s time to improve their game of golf, try a new sport or focus on fitness. Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital’s Sports Medicine specialists can help you improve your performance and prepare for the next season.

Sports Performance Training: Improve Your Game!

Athletes receive:

• Program consultation
• Pre/post fitness evaluation
• Individualized program
• Maintenance exercise program 

An experienced team of strength and conditioning specialists train athletes, ages 10 and up, to reach their highest individual potential by improving speed, power, agility, flexibility, endurance and core strength. Athletes at any fitness level can improve their performance through this specialized strength and conditioning program designed to enhance skills for a specific sport or activity.

Rates

Performance Enhancement Evaluation: $50

Performance Enhancement Training:

Most injuries to the lower extremity occur while jumping, landing, running and cutting. Our Sports Medicine specialists can help competitive and recreational athletes improve their performance and limit their risk of injury by teaching proper techniques and injury prevention exercises.

For more information, call Mercy Sports Medicine at 330.966.8920.

Functional Movement Screenings (FMS)

We offer functional movement screenings (FMS) plus corrective exercises, power testing, vertical testing and speed testing.

Put simply, the FMS is a ranking and grading system that documents movement patterns that are key to normal function. By screening these patterns, the FMS readily identifies functional limitations and asymmetries. These are issues that can reduce the effects of functional training and physical conditioning and distort body awareness that affect sport performance.

The FMS generates the Functional Movement Screen Score, which is used to target problems and track progress. This scoring system is directly linked to the most beneficial corrective exercises to restore mechanically sound movement patterns.

Exercise professionals monitor the FMS score to track progress and to identify those exercises that will be most effective to restore proper movement and build strength in each individual.

Finding this “weakness” using FMS can help you as a coach better your athlete and improve performance season after season. Simple corrective patterns can be tailored by a specialist to help the athlete reach maximum potential. In other words, by balancing MOVEMENT on both sides of the body, you will boost performance from that athlete. You will create a more powerful, agile, and complete athlete.

Cost: $10 per athlete per session, including FMS screening.