The glory of Friday night football can turn painful.
So can the grace of hockey, the artistry of competitive cheerleading and dancing, and the triumphs of other sports of all age levels.
Injuries are an aspect of all sports and that will always be the case.
The Allegheny Health Network has a place to go on Saturdays to help manage some of those aches and pains within a convenient time frame.
Employees of the Allegheny County Schools Health Insurance Consortium (ACSHIC) and their dependents have access to this Sports Performance Physical Therapy program that originally started as a fall-only program but has morphed into an all-year initiative in 2020-21.
“It was such a popular thing with us in the fall that we continued it though the rest of the year,” says Craig Castor, the supervisor of sports medicine at AHN. “It’s been successful, and we will continue to grow it through the summer leading into fall.”
The sports facility, 1013 Wexford Dr. in Wexford, is open from 8-11 a.m. on Saturdays and serves two purposes, according to Dr. Todd Franco, team physician for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“When we started, it was meant to be for urgent sports-related or athletic-related injuries,” Franco says. “Walk-ins are welcome throughout the morning.
“There is a secondary part where we have expanded access to our patients. We’re trying to improve access for musculoskeletal injuries throughout the weekend — from acute injuries from an athletic perspective and also for musculoskeletal injuries from the general public as well.”
Whether injured by a hard tackle or a slip on a wet surface — even off the field — athletes can take advantage.
“People love Saturday access,” Franco says. “It makes their life easy. Sometimes it’s hard to get to the physician during the daytime during the week, particularly for our non-traditional athletes and kids who can’t drive themselves. It’s definitely been successful, and as people get more knowledge of the clinic it becomes more successful. People know that if you get hurt late in the week, you have access to us on Saturday mornings.”
Concussions are a serious issue, and the Saturday crew is educated and equipped to handle concussion-related problems.
“We are much more attuned with risk and proper protocols.” Franco says. “We have come a long way over the years, but have a long way to go to make an appropriate diagnosis and management and long-term complications.
“We continue to do studies and we continue to learn more every year. The nice thing about our clinic is that every clinic is staff by board-certified a fellowship-trained sports medicine physician who is capable of managing concussions. That makes Saturday morning clinics after Friday night football invaluable.”
The training center also offers a variety of other sport-related programs for consortium members to take advantage of that cover the gamut.
There is strength and conditioning for customized sports and position-specific programming.
The is speed, agility and first-step training with specialized equipment to work on neuromuscular communication improving reaction times, hand-eye coordination and first-step quickness.
There are recovery sessions in which advanced technology helps rid the body of aches and pains that occur from competition, practice and hard training days.
Teams can take advantage of training either via an AHN location or in their own school weight rooms. Teams can also engage in Zoom meetings for educational purposes on a variety of sports specific and wellness topics.
