OSU’s new sports medicine facility a premier offering

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Anyone who knows The Ohio State University knows its fans love to boast about the strength of its sports teams.

The recent opening of a brand new facility near campus serves as a reminder that there’s also a boast or two to be made about the strength of the sports medicine program.

That new facility is the Jameson Crane Sports Medicine Institute. The $45 million, three-story, 116,000-square-foot institute, located just off Ackerman Drive and easily visible from State Rt. 315, opened its doors in late September, almost two years to the day after its 2014 groundbreaking.

The need for such a facility increased as the need for physicians did, says Dr. Christopher Kaeding, executive director of sports medicine at OSU. It centralizes OSU’s previously separated sports medicine services, housing 15 interdisciplinary specialties and more than 160 faculty and staff members.

“This is the culmination of a long-term strategic plan based on the increase in physicians, physical therapy and surgical volumes we’ve experienced over many years,” Kaeding says.

Among the facility’s offerings are a sports medicine physician clinic, nutrition services, sport psychology, imaging, X-rays, physical therapy and outpatient services. Multiple clinical and surgical suites are on site – including such orthopedic surgery options as ACL reconstruction, hip arthroscopy, rotator cuff repair, joint resurfacing and implantation – as is a motion analysis and performance lab. That’s on top of a functional physical therapy space with such facilities as a batting cage and a dance floor with barre.

It’s all part of a lengthy process to put OSU’s sports medicine services into one of the biggest and most comprehensive facilities in the country.

“The system is built to take better care of our patients,” Kaeding says. “With a strong staff, we will succeed in taking care of the patient carefully.”

And it’s not just for student athletes, or even just for students. OSU sports medicine services from physicals to surgery continue to be available to competitive and recreational athletes of all ages and skill levels – a valuable resource, Kaeding says, given the prevalence of injuries.

“Sports-related injuries in young athletes represent more than 40 percent of emergency department visits,” he says. “For patients between the ages of 42 and 60, sports-related injuries are the second most common reason for injury-related physician office visits.”

The institute also enhances the learning and research opportunities available to sports medicine students, Kaeding says.

Ray Bruster is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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