Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Center

Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Center has been providing northeast Kansas with compassionate and high-quality orthopaedic care for other 30 years. OSMC takes pride in specializing in sports medicine and is the only clinic in the region where patients can have complete one-on-one care with a healthcare professional from start to finish in their rehabilitation process. Our Sports Medicine team works together to prescribe your plan of care from injury to return to play.

Streamline to Sport: Who qualifies for the service and Why is this service offered?

OSMC is excited to introduce our new Streamline to Sport Program which gives athlete’s the ability to return to their sport as quickly and safely as possible. The program streamlines the transition from physical therapy discharge to successful return to play. This page will provide more information on Streamline to Sport from our athletic trainer, Elizabeth McKinney.

For additional information on all our services visit our website or call and schedule your consultation with one of our providers.

Streamline to Sport: Who qualifies for the service and Why is this service offered?

Streamline to Sport is offered for anyone who has the goal of getting back to a specific activity or sport. Our team is looking to get you back to what you were doing before your injury- whether the sport or activity that you are attempting to return to is for your enjoyment, competition or your job. The final stage or advanced stage of rehabilitation includes activities such as running, cutting and change of direction, jumping, throwing, and sport-specific activity progressions.

Our physical therapy department is unique in which our team of therapists and athletic trainer work together to minimize the risk of injury or reinjury. After a major injury, such as an ACL reconstruction, getting back into your sport doesn’t feel the same and sometimes people call it an “out of body” experience. The person knows that they should be able to complete the activity or task because they could before; however, now because of neuromuscular error and/or lacking confidence they are unable to complete the activity to his/her satisfaction. That is why the mental component is important.

The physical component plays a factor because the patient needs to have the strength and endurance to be able to complete activities with appropriate form that will decrease the risk of injury or reinjury, but the mental component has a big role in a full return to activity. An ACL reconstruction patient that presents with apprehension or lacks confidence in one’s ability is a great example of this mental component. The reason for this could be multi-factorial and is specific to the individual. Possible reasons could be that the body doesn’t know how to carry out the task that your brain is telling it to. The body has receptors that receive messages from the brain to tell that body part to start, stop, bend to a specific degree, change directions, etc. After an injury and then surgery, like an ACL reconstruction, what your body knows as normal has now changed and your brain is relearning communication on how to carry out simple to complex tasks. This relearning can include things such as body positioning or process how much force a muscle needs to move how you intend. This relearning process can cause apprehension and compensation which increases your risk of injury or reinjury.

Streamline to Sport is a service which will help guide and progressively return patients back to his or her activity by ensuring the progression aligns with the healing process of the body and allows the body to physically and mentally prepare for sports and activities.

OSMC Physical Therapy is excited to be able to serve Manhattan and the surrounding communities with this new service. At our new East side Physical Therapy location, we are able to offer patients a large gym space that has a basketball, volleyball, and tennis court as well as a netting system where patients can complete batting, kicking, and throwing progressions. All of our equipment facilitates our providers exposing the patients to game-like situations and scenarios, prepares them for the demands of their sport or activity, and allowing them to reach his or her full potential. For more information or to schedule a consultation, visit our website, kansasortho.com/streamline-to-sport-program, or call us at 785-564-4699 and ask for Elizabeth McKinney.