Akron Children’s has opened a comprehensive sports health facility on the University of Akron (UA) campus.
As the official sports health provider for Akron Zips Athletics, the Akron Children’s Sports Health team is dedicated to keeping approximately 500 UA student-athletes across 17 teams in the game.
The sports health center, located inside the Stile Athletics Field House at 254 Spicer St., not only serves UA student-athletes but all UA faculty, staff and students with orthopedic or sports injuries. The facility is also a destination sports health center for athletes 12 and up.
Akron Children’s Sports Health at UA features:
- The area’s only microgravity treadmill, which supports safe and comfortable movement by reducing the total body weight on the lower extremities.
- A Keiser® functional trainer that uses pneumatic resistance to emulate the movements of the human body throughout the entire range of motion.
- A combined upper and lower body ergometer to rehab specific muscle groups with less resistance.
- An arc elliptical trainer that puts less strain on knee joints during recovery.
- A shuttle jump system for rebuilding lower body strength, power and agility.
- Clinic space for Akron Children’s orthopedic and sports medicine physicians.
- An imaging suite for on-site X-rays.
- A concussion treatment room.
- An agility area, weights, sports equipment and custom orthotics fabrication.
For a virtual tour of the Akron Children’s Sports Health Center for Zips Athletics, click here.
Three Akron Children’s physicians and two fellows will provide athlete medical clinics five days a week, and 10 athletic trainers will provide sideline coverage at practices and games and will work with athletes in the UA training room.
“I am extremely proud of the services we provide, our sports health team, and the collaboration with The University of Akron,” said Dr. John Polousky, the lead Akron Children’s orthopedic physician for the program. “We are providing athletes with the best possible care to get them back on the field or to their sport as quickly and safely as possible.”
In addition, specialized sports medicine treatment includes ultrasound-guided injections of steroids to target precise pain points and platelet-rich plasma that uses platelets from a patient’s own blood to repair damaged tissue and joints.
Akron Children’s cares for the whole athlete, also offering sports psychology, sports nutrition and performance improvement programs.
To request an appointment at Akron Children’s Sports Health at The University of Akron, call 330-543-2778. To learn more about the facility, visit the ACH website.