Publication select ▼TROY — Children’s Hospital of Michigan is making a multimillion-dollar investment in state-of-the-art technology aimed at helping young athletes.
The hospital’s Troy campus is located at 350 W. Big Beaver Road. The hospital recently announced a $2.4 million investment in new operating room technology that will enhance sports medicine services, including orthopedic surgery.
Officials pointed to findings by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed athletes ages 5-24 account for about 2.7 million emergency department visits each year. The most common injuries are from football (14.1%), basketball (12.5%), bicycle riding (9.9%), soccer (7.1%), and ice skating or roller skating, including skateboarding (6.9%).
“Honestly, we see any and all athletes, from the recreational athletes playing once a week to more high-level, competitive athletes who have devoted much of their time and resources to honing their skills,” said Dr. Andrew Gupta, an orthopedic surgery at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and director of its Pediatric Sports Medicine program, in an email.
“It’s great to help all of them,” he said. “From the standpoint of the recreational athletes, we’re helping them stay active and motivating them to get back to the things they like to do. The higher-level athletes, they’re looking for the pinnacle of treatment in healthcare, and we’re offering that. We get them back to the sport or sports they’re devoted to.”
Gupta and his team have been meeting young athletes and their families in Troy for office and clinic visits since the outpatient care facility opened in 2016. He shared that the most common sports injuries they see are knee and shoulder injuries that involve ligament and cartilage damage.
“The treatment depends on the severity and location of the injuries. Sometimes they can be treated with a combination of rest, physical therapy, non-operative medications, ultrasound therapies or injections,” Gupta said. “More serious injuries require surgical repair. It’s a full range of treatments, depending on what’s necessary. And with this expansion of our program at Troy, we can offer all of it with convenience for the community.”
The new investment is establishing operating rooms at the hospital’s Troy campus that offer a level of care comparable to that offered at its main campus in Detroit.
“As parents know, kids’ sports injuries happen every weekend,” said Joshua Ulery, interim CEO at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, in a statement. “This expansion of the highly popular Children’s Hospital of Michigan pediatric Sports Medicine program brings high-tech OR capabilities to Troy, providing more families from across the region with easy access to advanced orthopedic services.”
Reshana Baird, of Detroit, said she was grateful for that expertise in August 2024, after her 9-year-old son, Navi Jackson, tore his right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), playing football, then tore his left ACL two weeks later.
Gupta repaired Navi’s right tear first, then the left tear six months later, so Navi would still be able to walk using crutches during his recovery. Baird said she is glad Navi is now able to walk and run on his own, and that he is hoping to play football again soon.
“We’ve been through it, but my son had a real positive attitude,” Baird said in a statement. “They broke down what happened to him, so he knew that he’d be back playing sports. We had a lot going on, but we just ran with it.”
For more information, visit childrensdmc.org.
