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Share Your Story: A Ballerina’s Recovery

Share Your Story: A Ballerina’s Recovery

by | Oct 8, 2018 | Sports Medicine

Meet Julia, a sports medicine patient who had surgery to correct her ankle. Julia was diagnosed with Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD) at nine years old. Learn more about her journey to recovery below.

Julia, our 9-year-old daughter, leads a very active childhood. She plays soccer and softball, loves tumbling and looks forward to her favorite activity of all – ballet. But a couple of summers ago, we began to notice that she would limp after chasing her brothers around the backyard, after jumping rope and after turning cartwheels.

After a few doctor visits she was first diagnosed with Severs Disease, which affects the Achilles tendon and can cause pain after physical activity. We were told that she would outgrow it with time. After two years, instead of improving she was limping all day long, not just after sports or playing outside.

Julia never complained; she pushed through the pain.

It became heart-wrenching to watch her play soccer and by the end of a game, she was hardly able to run across the field. Still, she never wanted to quit, but my husband and I made the hard decision for her to not continue with soccer, because we felt the pain was just getting too severe.

At Julia’s 9-year check up with her pediatrician, I began describing all of the pain she was still experiencing, only now she was also experiencing pain in her other foot and ankle. Her pediatrician referred us to Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center.

Julia was evaluated by Dr. Jane S. Chung and Dr. Chung quickly found that there was something abnormal with Julia’s left foot, in addition to the Severs disease which was still evident in her right foot. After having an MRI to confirm, Julia was diagnosed with Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD) of the left ankle – a joint disorder in

which cracks form in the articular cartilage and the underlying subchondral bone. OCD usually causes pain and swelling of the affected joint and will catch lock during movement.

It was becoming clear why her limping progressed over the past year. After the diagnosis of OCD, we were transferred to the Sports Medicine surgical team under the care of Dr. Henry B. Ellis. Dr. Ellis met with us to discuss all of the options available to help Julia in the most conservative, yet effective way possible. Dr. Ellis was so kind,

responsive to our concerns and spoke directly to Julia, even seeking her input and thoughts on the treatment plan.

During one of the consults with Dr. Ellis, Julia reported to him that she did, in fact, experience pain in her left ankle during her ballet classes, yet she was apprehensive to mention it.

 

She loves ballet with all her heart and thought her OCD would force her to have to quit ballet, like she had quit soccer.  

This is when I realized that Julia had been silently dealing with her ankle pain and not letting us know how severe it really was.  She felt that she might have to stop doing all of the activities that she loves. As a parent, you never want to think that your child might not be able to pursue their dreams.

Dr. Ellis recently operated on Julia’s left ankle. She has experienced a very smooth recovery and is excited for the next three months to pass quickly so she can feel what it’s like to walk and run pain-free! In time, Julia will be back to dancing, running, playing and chasing her dreams.

 

DO YOU HAVE A STORY? WE WANT TO HEAR IT! SHARE YOUR STORY WITH US. 

Dallas Business Journal: Take a look inside Scottish Rite’s new sports medicine center in Frisco

Dallas Business Journal: Take a look inside Scottish Rite’s new sports medicine center in Frisco

by | Sep 20, 2018 | General News, Press Coverage

View the original story on the Dallas Business Journal website here.
 

With the new Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children campus just weeks away from opening its doors in Frisco, final touches are being made to the 345,000-square-foot sports medicine facility.

The Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center, a five-story ambulatory surgery center with outpatient clinics and walk-in availability, will start accepting patients in October.

The new campus was built to serve North Texas’ growing community and meet the needs of 25 percent of the pediatric hospital’s patients who live in cities north of Dallas, said Jeremy Howell, vice president of Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

Howell said pediatric sports medicine is one of the fastest growing sub-specialties in orthopedics, and the new building, which is anchored by the Center for Excellence in Sports Medicine, will be outfitted with the latest technology that can offer preventative care and conduct valuable research for young athletes.

“We want to be able to come alongside these kids and help them out and hopefully prevent injury,” he said. “But if it happens, we want them to know they’ll be taken care of by the best orthopedic surgeons.”

The facility, which sits on a 40-acre swath of land at the Dallas North Tollway and Lebanon Road near the newly opened Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research center at The Star, has an outdoor sprint track and a soccer field for patient rehabilitation and research. It also has conference rooms, a walking trail and a playground, all of which will be open for community use.

“It was important for us to give back to the community that has given so much to us,” added Howell.

Dallas-based HKS Inc. is the architect behind the sprawling campus and The Beck Group is the general contractor.

The project’s lead architect, Rachel Knox, said her team met with Scottish Rite staff to get a sense of patients’ emotional needs and how the building’s design could help address them.

“A big driver of the design of this space was to bring in natural light into the patients rooms,” said Knox.

The design also accounted for larger waiting rooms that can comfortably accommodate patients’ families and offer them a little privacy, she added.

One waiting room, the result of a partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities, features an electric fireplace and a play area, making it feel more like a living room than a waiting room.

Knox said a lot of thought went into how to bring the brand of the 96-year-old Dallas hospital to a new building. The signature crayon colors of the Dallas campus were a must, she said. Vibrant primary colors are threaded throughout the new building, from the art to the color-coded floors to a rainbow spiral staircase in the lobby.

“We don’t want it to feel, smell or look like a hospital,” said Howell.

As North Texas continues to grow, the campus is prepared to grow with it. An additional floor and a half of available shell space is spread throughout the building, including four more operating rooms. And it will likely be needed, Howell said. The campus is anticipating 22,000 clinical visits and 13,000 physical therapy visits in its first year.

Dallas Morning News: The Rite stuff for Frisco

Dallas Morning News: The Rite stuff for Frisco

by | Sep 18, 2018 | Press Coverage, Research & Innovation

View the original story on the Dallas Morning News website here.

FRISCO — In this boom-town that brands itself Sports City USA, a massive new hospital will aim to keep kids on the field.

Work crews have been putting the finishing touches on the new Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center along the Dallas North Tollway at Lebanon Road. The 345,000-square-foot facility, which officially opens Oct. 10, will specialize in injury prevention and orthopedic issues such as broken bones or torn knee ligaments. 

The hospital is the latest athletics-centric addition in Frisco, which is home to the Dallas Cowboys, FC Dallas, the Texas Legends basketball team and the Frisco RoughRiders baseball team, among others. And it will serve a market where youth sports are big; Men’s Journal in 2011 declared the city to be the nation’s Best Place to Raise an Athlete.

Jeremy Howell, vice president of the nonprofit Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, said the hospital is about more than sports: “We’re giving kids back their childhood.”

The hospital, announced in 2014, will join a market that now features the Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research at The Star, which opened less than a mile to the south a few months ago. Next year, the Texas Health Hospital Frisco will open a few miles to the north.

The facility will be the second pediatric hospital for the nonprofit Scottish Rite, which was founded in Dallas in 1921 to treat children with polio. Over the years, the hospital’s efforts broadened to treat a variety of orthopedic conditions, such as scoliosis, clubfoot and limb-length differences. 

Sports medicine is now the fastest growing sub-specialty for pediatric orthopedics. Part of that growth is due to the large number of children focusing on a single sport at an early age, resulting in overuse injuries.

The Scottish Rite’s Frisco campus — located along the tollway in what is known as the city’s North Platinum Corridor — will capitalize on that trend. But Howell said a second campus also makes sense now because about a quarter of Scottish Rite’s growing patient base lives north of Dallas.

Scottish Rite opened a temporary space in 2015 in Plano. It logged more than 18,000 patient visits in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. Those patients will move to the Frisco campus starting next month.

And the site has plenty of room for growth. Two operating rooms will be available starting next month. Four more can be equipped as needed. One floor will also remain mostly empty at the start.

The Frisco campus will have a state-of-the-art Movement Science Lab. Motion-capture cameras will analyze children as they run, jump, kick and throw. An outdoor soccer field, curved running track and artificial turf at the medical center will help test their limits.

The facility will offer day surgeries as well as physical therapy. A fracture clinic will accept walk-ins. The hospital will also have a rotation of clinics, including those for scoliosis and prosthetics. 

Research will continue to play a large role for the teaching hospital. The medical center includes conference center space with a 155-seat lecture hall for training. The space will also be available to community groups. 

“We’re always looking at new and better ways to take care of kids,” Howell said. 

HKS Architects designed the pediatric hospital for efficiency. Meetings with doctors and nurses helped ensure the layout was functional. The pediatric hospital assigned different colors to define uses: blue for surgery and green for sports therapy, for example.

“This campus is all about movement,” said Bernita Beikmann, executive vice president for HKS Architects. “It’s rainbow from top to bottom.” 

A Rainbow Dragon sculpture from artist Daniel Goldstein hangs from the ceiling in the entryway. And colored lights and panels can be found throughout. 

Spaces are designed with families in mind — more natural lighting, comfortable seating, outlets for mobile devices, coffee bars. The idea is to take the anxiety out of their visit, Howell said. 

“We don’t want it to feel, smell or look like a hospital,” he said.

#SRHaccess Facebook Live Recap: Concussions

by | Sep 13, 2018 | Sports Medicine

On this week’s Facebook live, staff physician of the Center for Excellence in Sports Medicine, Shane M. Miller, M.D. joined us to discuss sports-related concussions in honor of #TeamUpSpeakUp Day and Sports Medicine Month.
 
Watch the Facebook live.
 
What is #TeamUpSpeakUp?

  • The core message: athletes have a responsibility to report to a team leader if they notice a teammate with concussion symptoms.
  • A good teammate is going to watch out for concussion symptoms amongst their fellow teammates, rather letting them continue to play. If you see something, say something!
  • Pledge to play your part and #TeamUpSpeakUp to fight concussions on the Concussion Legacy Foundations website.

What are some of the repercussions if athletes continue to play with a concussion?

  • Athletes who continue to play with a brain injury are more likely to put themselves at risk for worse injury such as second impact syndrome.
  • Second impact syndrome is a very rare condition in which a second concussion occurs before the initial first concussion has properly healed, causing rapid and severe brain swelling and often catastrophic results. Second impact syndrome can result from even a very mild concussion that occurs days or weeks after the initial concussion.

 
What every parent, coach and young athlete needs to know about sports-related concussions:

  • A concussion is a brain injury that disrupts normal brain function. The usual cause is a sudden blow to the head, neck, or body that shakes the brain, damages cells and creates chemical changes. Knowing if and when a concussion occurs is very important, and there are many dangers to an athlete returning to play before their concussion is fully healed. These dangers include:
    • Additional signs and symptoms
    • Greater severity of signs and symptoms
    • Longer recovery time
    • Greater risk of an additional concussion
    • Long-term brain impairment

What is the importance of reporting a sports-related concussion?

  • About 40% of athletes who suffer from a sports-related concussion continue to play their sport because they do not recognize they are suffering from a brain injury.
  • It’s important for us to #TeamUpSpeakUp, because we simply cannot completely rely on an athlete to self-report a brain injury. Everyone has to work together to insure the safety and well-being of the athlete.

What are some of the symptoms that spectators, players and/or coaches should look for with concussions?

SIGNS
The athlete may:

  • Appear dazed or stunned
  • Appear confused
  • Forget plays
  • Exhibit unsteadiness
  • Lose consciousness
  • Appear sleepier or more tired than usual
  • Seem sad, nervous or anxious

SYMPTOMS 
The athlete may complain of:

  • Headaches
  • Concentration or memory problems
  • Nausea
  • Balance problems or dizziness
  • Double or blurred vision
  • Sensitivity to light or noise
  • Confusion

 How long is the typical recovery time for athletes to return to their sport?

  • 80% of young athletes will recover from their brain injury within three to four weeks.

 Will all the sports medicine services provided at the current Plano campus be available at the new Frisco campus?

  • Yes, plus more! Everything our North Campus offers is going to be moving to the new Frisco campus. We are expanding quite a bit at this campus by providing general orthopedics in hip disorders, scoliosis screening, foot and ankle, shoulder care, along with physical therapy and research in addition to the expansion of our Sports Medicine practice.

What are some of the new services the Frisco Campus will provide?

  • Increased space to utilize more resources for expanded services
  • Operating rooms for day surgeries
  • Movement science lab
  • Physical therapy gym space
  • Overall clinical care advancements and updates to current services

Education regarding the various signs, symptoms and dangers of returning to play too early are crucial for parents, coaches and young athletes. If you notice a bad hit, or any of the signs and symptoms listed above in your athlete or their teammates this season, please speak up. It takes a team to protect our young athletes from concussions.
 

#SRHaccess Facebook LIVE Recap: Sports Nutrition and Wellness

#SRHaccess Facebook LIVE Recap: Sports Nutrition and Wellness

by | Apr 4, 2018 | Sports Medicine

On this week’s Facebook live, the hospital’s Director of Wellness Taylor Morrison, M.S., R.D., L.D.  joined us to discuss her role with our sports medicine patients and overall wellness at the hospital. Below is a recap of the conversation.

Watch the live segment. 

What is her role with our patients?

  • She is a sports dietician who works specifically with our sports medicine patients.
  • She has appointments at our Plano campus every first, second and third Fridays of the month.
  • Provides guidance and education on meal plans tailored to the athlete depending on their sport, age, weight and development stage.

What are the most common issues seen in young athletes?

  • Stress fractures from high level training and overuse injuries.
  • From high intensity training or multisport involvement, many athletes are not taking in enough calories.
  • As the athlete grows and develops, their body requires more calories to have sufficient energy to perform.
  • Young athletes skipping meals.

Calcium and Vitamin D deficiencies in young athletes – what foods can help with this?

  • Best sources of calcium: milk, yogurt and cheese
  • By meeting with the nutritionist, if your child does not like these options, she will help you be creative in finding ways to incorporate calcium and vitamin D into their diet.
    • Smoothie, oatmeal made with milk, etc.

What should parents know about making an appointment with the sports nutritionist? 

  • She only sees sports medicine patients who have a referral from their physician at Scottish Rite Hospital.
  • Once the referral comes through, the athlete is scheduled for a clinic visit with the nutritionist.

Athletes who are vegetarians:

  • Provide education to the athletes and caregivers on being creative when it comes to meals to make sure they are getting all the nutrients needed to be successful.
  • Learn more from our blog.

Wellness at the hospital:

  • Healthier option offered each day.
  • Different stations: pre-made sandwiches, grill, deli, salad bar and other options.
  • ‘Eat Rite’ logo designates the food as a healthy option. Dietitians at the hospital evaluate the meal to make sure it meets certain criteria as a healthy food.
  • Dieticians work closely with the hospitals’ chefs to make tasty and healthy options.
  • Examples of healthy options include:
    • Grab & go salads and sandwiches
    • Pretzels and hummus
    • Vegetarian and vegan soups