HSS Receives $2.76 Million to Prevent Sports Injuries

Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is announcing the receipt of a $2.76 million grant to establish a program aimed at preventing sports injuries, especially among vulnerable young athletes. The grant was provided by HSS Board member James Dinan and his wife, Elizabeth Miller, through The Dinan Family Foundation.

James Kinderknecht, M.D. and Robert Marx, M.D., sports medicine specialists at Hospital for Special Surgery, will serve as program directors. They will begin the HSS Sports Medicine Injury Prevention Program by reviewing best practices based on the latest research. The hospital will then launch a comprehensive campaign to raise awareness, informing and educating the public and professionals on injury prevention.

“We are extremely grateful to Elizabeth Miller and James Dinan for their generosity and vision, which have been instrumental in the launch of this important injury prevention program, ” said Louis A. Shapiro, HSS president and CEO, in the May 14, 2015 news release.

“The HSS Sports Injury Prevention Program will initially be comprised of review of the most up-to-date information on how to prevent ACL injuries, including specific exercises, followed by the development and implementation of strategies to disseminate this information; training and skills enhancement for coaches and athletic trainers on techniques to prevent ACL injuries; teaching ACL injury and prevention strategies to children and their parents so that young people can become partners in their own health care at an early age."

Dr. Kinderknecht told OTW, “Our first step is to hire a program director, and HSS is actively seeking to fill this position. The next step will be to create video content for an ACL [anterior cruciate ligament] injury prevention program. Within that time frame, we will then be implementing the program by ‘coaching the coaches’ in an attempt to have them incorporate the exercises into the practice time.”

Asked how the program will be evaluated, Dr. Kinderknecht added, “The program will be evaluated by assessing, via surveys and follow-up, how many coaches have implemented the program and how many young athletes are performing the exercises to prevent injury.”

Dr. Marx commented to OTW, “In the future, we will also evaluate for a decrease in ACL tears, overuse injuries and playing time missed.”