Columbus Childrens Hospital Breaks Ground on New Sports Medicine, Orthopedic Center in Westerville

Columbus Childrens Hospital broke ground May 23 on its new Sports Medicine
and Orthopedic Center located at 584 County Line Rd. West, Westerville, Ohio 43082. The center is one of-four pediatric-focused sports medicine and orthopedic centers in the country, and boasts services such as physical therapy, athletic training, radiology and sports injury prevention instruction.

The Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center will be a premier facility for young active kids, Thomas Pommering, DO, Medical Director of Sports Medicine at Columbus Childrens Hospital and Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Family Medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, said. Today we see more and more young athletes with adult-like injuries. This Center will be a place for those kids to not only receive treatment for injury, but also, learn how to best prevent such injuries. Our commitment is to treating kids from diagnosis to treatment to further injury prevention.

The center, planned at 23,000 square feet, will be two stories with the first floor housing clinic space and procedure rooms. The second floor will have a two-lane track, basketball space and a 5,000-square-foot physical therapy gym with state-of-the-art exercise equipment. There will be large areas with multipurpose sports and activity flooring that will be used for the Sports Medicine Personal Best Injury Prevention programs. Computerized motion analysis also will be available at the site.

Sports injuries in growing, young athletes differ from those in the adult patient and we understand that clearly, Kevin Klingele, MD, Surgical Director of Sports Medicine, Assistant Director of Orthopedic Education, Clinical Research at Columbus Childrens Hospital and Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, said. At Childrens, we are making a commitment with this program to provide the best possible treatment and injury prevention for young active kids in our community. It is an effort we take seriously along with coaches, athletic trainers, primary care physicians and parents.

Childrens Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center is slated to open summer 2007 and will see primarily sports medicine and orthopedic patients as well as physical therapy (PT) patients. PT patients seen at the new center will have a type of orthopedic or athletic/activity-related injury.

Three to five physicians will base their practices in the new building which will house 20 employees when it opens with potential to grow to 40 employees. Daimler Group Inc. is the construction manager for the project, while Maddox NBD is the buildings architect.

Renderings of Childrens Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center are available at:
www.columbuschildrens.com/sportsmedicine