A unique collaboration between Marshall and Cabell Huntington Hospital leads to a state-of-the-art facility that treats sports-related injuries for both athletes and the community at large.
A unique collaboration between Marshall and Cabell Huntington Hospital leads to a state-of-the-art facility that treats sports-related injuries for both athletes and the community at large.
To Marshall University Athletic Director Mike Hamrick, the new Marshall Sports Medicine Institute looks like science fiction.
Watching an athlete rehabilitate with an underwater treadmill, complete with underwater cameras to monitor gait, and considering that the antigravity treadmill can remove 80 percent of an athlete’s body weight for movement with less strain – these are the kinds of things he simply cannot believe.
“Sports medicine has changed so much since I was a football player,” said Hamrick, who graduated from Marshall in 1980. “Then, sports medicine was, ‘Take two aspirin and put some ice on it.’ This is so complex and gives us a significant edge in recruiting athletes to Marshall. When a parent comes in with their son or daughter on a recruiting trip, and they see the Marshall Sports Medicine Institute, they walk out saying, ‘Wow!’ And they know their son or daughter will have the best medical care here at Marshall.”
The new institute celebrated its ribbon-cutting in September, securing the last piece in the puzzle that is the Chris Cline Athletic Complex. Ten years in the making, the complex also includes an indoor practice facility, the Buck Harless Student-Athlete Academic Center and the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame. It was funded through the university’s Vision Campaign. Spearheaded by former Thundering Herd greats Chad Pennington and Mike D’Antoni, the campaign raised $35 million and also funded the new Hoops Family Field and Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex on Fifth Avenue.
With the addition of the Marshall Sports Medicine Institute, the university now has second-to-none offerings not only for student-athletes, but the entire Tri-State community as well.
“This is a game-changer for the community because the facility’s state-of-the-art equipment is available to anyone in need of medical care. It is a total sports medicine package rolled into one location,” Hamrick said. “You have orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, athletic trainers and the latest equipment for any kind of sports injury that occurs.”
With decades of experience, physicians at the nearly 20,000-square-foot facility include board certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons and fellowship-trained physicians in sports medicine primary care, concussion care, seizures and more. They treat a variety of musculoskeletal problems and injuries to the joints most often affected by sports — the shoulder, elbow, hip, knee and ankle — with X-ray equipment right on hand.
In all, the center has services including sports medicine, surgery and primary care, as well as physical therapy, nutritionists, aquatic therapy, performance enhancement, chiropractic care and sports psychology. All of this is offered through a unique partnership among four entities — Marshall Athletics, the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall Health and Cabell Huntington Hospital. The hospital provides physical therapists, athletic trainers, nutritionists and psychologists, as well as access to services including MRIs, laboratory testing and outpatient surgery.
“All this makes treatment and diagnostic workup for our patients much easier,” said Dr. Charles Giangarra, chief of the Marshall Orthopaedics Sports Medicine Division.
The relationship among Marshall University sports medicine, the medical school and Cabell Huntington Hospital is key to making the institute the amazing facility it is, he explained.
“We wouldn’t be where we are without the support of Cabell Huntington Hospital and the effort in putting the institute together,” said Giangarra, an orthopedic surgeon who has been at Marshall 12 years and spent three years helping to plan the new institute.
He described the institute as a “dream come true,” as it would be for “anyone who does what I do for a living.”
In the whole debate about athletics versus academics, this complex is a carefully planned combination of both.
“Dr. Stephen Kopp was a visionary. He saw the benefit of both,” Giangarra said. “One thing that’s great about the institute is that it’s open to everyone, even if they’re not Marshall athletes.”
The institute, located at the front of the Chris Cline Athletic Complex in the 2200 block of Third Avenue, has a daily walk-in clinic Monday through Saturday. It also accepts patients referred by other doctors. A doctor can write a prescription for physical therapy, sports psychology or to see a nutritionist, so that anyone can benefit from the multifaceted offerings at the institute.
With the help of nutritionists, the center has offerings for diabetic and hypertensive athletes, and it can treat both eating disorders and the less commonly understood condition of disordered eating, which involves food and supplement consumption that do more harm than good.
Along with assisting athletes and weekend warriors, Giangarra sees a role of the institute as helping area youth battle obesity by providing a single location where they can address various issues related to physical health and athletic performance.
For those who experience bumps on the road to fitness or absolute peak performance, they can have injuries treated and rehabilitated and then get further training to improve performance all in one place now. All the while, they can progress with close supervision by those knowledgeable about the science of, and safety measures needed for, optimal movement.
“The therapy center is doing exceptionally well and our sports performance area is really taking off. That’s something we weren’t able to offer before,” Giangarra said.
And the excitement doesn’t stop there, he said. The center is also primed for leading-edge research.
“Research is going to be a focus,” he said. “There already are a number of ongoing projects.”
They focus on topics such as returning to play after a concussion, injuries common to softball pitchers, advancements in orthopedics and biologics involving injections to help heal injuries.
It appears the sky is the limit for the new sports medicine institute. As Giangarra proudly asserted, “There is a world of things we’re going to be doing in the future.”
Jean Hardiman is a Uniontown, Ohio, native who moved to Huntington 17 years ago to work at The Herald-Dispatch. She is a freelance writer, and is married with two young daughters and a grown stepdaughter.
Photos: (From second from top) The technology of the underwater treadmill removes 80 percent of a person’s body weight for less strain during rehabilitation. The Marshall Sports Medicine Institute staff includes highly trained physicians and physical therapists ready to help student-athletes get back on their feet. The sports medicine institute is open to the public and has a daily walk-in clinic Monday through Saturday for student-athletes and weekend warriors as well. The institute’s state-of-the-art facility offers the best sports medicine has to offer in training and rehabilitation services. The institute is also designed to help area youth tackle problems with obesity and teach them proper exercise techniques. The Marshall Sports Medicine Institute staff of physicians and physical therapists.