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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Madigan Healthcare System, Madigan Army Medical Center is opening a sports medicine center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, according to the center’s chief director Lt. Col. David Brown. “In terms of the sports medicine center, what we want to be able to offer is multidisciplinary sports medicine care for soldiers,” Brown said, "the program has to be fully integrated from top to bottom."
The center will be a treatment platform. Soldiers will no longer go through multiple stages before seeing a sports medicine expert. If a soldier suffers an injury during physical training, they can go to a musculoskeletal expert and receive their diagnosis followed by a treatment plan. Brown stated that the center's vision is to minimize the effects of an injury while speeding up the recovery process.
According to Brown, the care doesn’t stop with the center. They plan to bring in other services also. They’ll identify soldiers who are in need of additional care and bring in medical specialists to help streamline the process. Brown believes this will help soldiers’ rehabilitation process.
For the process to work, Brown wants the center and units to work together to help train soldiers. They also want to bring in athletic trainers to help evaluate and institute treatment plans. This will help track injuries. “If we are seeing the same type of injuries within a unit, that should send up red flags,” said Brown.
He believes this will help improve Army Physical Fitness Test scores and reduce the amount of injuries.
“We need to train smarter and not harder,” he said.
He believes the only way for this concept to succeed is to get input from commanders.
“I have concepts in my head on how I think this program will work optimally.”
Brown knows that for this to be a success, it has to mesh with the units’ schedules on post.
“If I offer services that soldiers can’t get to because it is inconvenient or they are geographically separated from where they are this is going to fail,” he said.
Brown believes the center can treat up to 10,000 soldiers over the course of a year. If the test center is a success, two more centers may go up.
Madigan began discussions with various working groups to ensure the success of the center. Brown reached out to the civilian sector and contacted the Seattle Seahawks’ team physicians and trainers. He’s received input from the National Athletic Trainers Association and physical therapists who work in the Rehab and Reintegration Office of the Surgeon General.
“Soldiers are elite athletes whether they consider themselves or not,” he said, “we need to take care of them the way elite athletes are taken care of.”
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 02.24.2012 13:05 |
| Story ID: | 84299 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Madigan helping to keep soldiers healthy, by Lewis Hilburn, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
