Sports Medicine Center   

Christopher Kaeding, MD, Co-Director

Integrating several surgical and medical specialties gives The Ohio State University Sports
Medicine Center an interdisciplinary approach to preventing and treating injuries among athletes and active individuals. This model offers advanced clinical care and collaborative research along with a teaching environment for developing sports-medicine leaders. Staffing includes faculty from Orthopaedics, Family Medicine and Physical Therapy. Research is collaborative with the College of Medicine, the College of Public Health, the Department of Internal Medicine (particularly its Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine), the College of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Allied Medical Professions. Studies within the Sports Medicine Center resulted
in 36 peer-reviewed publications in 2007 and numerous presentations at national and international meetings. The Center also had four clinical trials and is expanding its collaborative research, with plans to start a concussion-research program.

Ongoing Research Programs

• Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network/Knee – Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), this multicenter program uses validated clinical outcomes instruments to evaluate outcomes and predictors of outcomes following knee ligament surgery. Members include Ohio State, Vanderbilt University, the University of Iowa, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Colorado.
• Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network/Shoulder – This program uses validated clinical outcomes instruments to evaluate outcomes and predictors of outcomes following
  shoulder surgery. Members include Ohio State, Vanderbilt University, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Colorado.
• Sports Medicine/Imaging Research Group – This collaborative effort with the Medical Center’s Imaging Signature Program investigates innovative techniques for evaluating
  health and structure of articular cartilage and ligaments.
• Sports Biomechanics Laboratory – Ajit Chaudhari, PhD, a biomechanist who was recruited to Ohio State from Stanford University, established this human motion capture laboratory.
  The lab is the research arm for OSU Sports Medicine sports injury prevention and sports performance programs in ACL Injury Prevention, Golf Performance and Injury Prevention,
  Core Stability Training, and others.
• Sports Medicine Muscle Injury Lab – Led by Thomas Best, MD, PhD, this multidisciplinary lab receives extramural funding to study skeletal muscle injury and repair. Best’s lab collaborates with other labs at Ohio State, including those led by Sudha Agarwal, PhD, of Oral Biology, and Denis Guttridge, PhD, of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics.
• Comparative Orthobiologics Laboratory – Led by Alicia Bertone, DVM, PhD, ACVS, the newly named director of research for Sports Medicine, this cell biology and molecular
  medicine laboratory has extramural funding to investigate the application of one’s own cells and genes to enhance bone and joint repair. Bertone collaborates with a team of
  pathologists, bioengineers and image specialists to prove the efficacy of these new technologies. She specializes in translational research using natural disease and animal models to accelerate repair of bone and joint diseases.
• Sports Pulmonology Program – Led by John Mastronarde, MD, and Jonathan Parsons, MD, this program conducts research in asthma, sleep apnea and vocal cord dysfunction
  issues in athletes. The work has resulted in one funded proposal and two manuscripts.