The 424 Athlete Factory contracts with a state licensed athletic trainer to assist our athletes with any of their sports medicine needs. Derek Clark has been an athletic trainer since 1998 and has experience at the collegiate and high school levels. Our athletic trainer is supervised by our Orthopedic Consultant Dr. Jeff Mulholland of Greater Pittsburgh Orthopedic Associates. Dr. Mulholland is one of the region’s most sought after sports medicine specialists and has worked with professional, collegiate and high school athletes, weekend warriors and youth athletes. The goal of our sports medicine team is to help our athletes stay healthy and perform at their optimal level by offering multiple services.
Injury evaluation: The licensed athletic trainer is available by appointment to evaluate any sports related musculoskeletal injury. Through consultation with our orthopedic consultant the proper referral or treatment plan will be created.
Sports Medicine Orthopedic Referral: If the injury/conditioning requires a physician referral our athletic trainer will help to facilitate the appointment with the athlete or the athlete’s parent/guardian and our orthopedic consultant’s office. If the athlete chooses to use another physician they will be responsible for making their own appointment.
Physical Therapy Referral: If your injury/condition requires off site physical therapy our athletic trainer can help facilitate the referral depending on the athlete/client’s insurance.
Injury Rehabilitation: In some cases, your rehabilitation will be able to take place on site with our athletic trainer. This rehabilitation program will be written in conjunction with and overseen by our orthopedic consultant.
Reconditioning: Reconditioning programs start after or in the late phases of your rehabilitation program. These programs progressively return the athlete to running, lifting and their sport.
Movement Assessments : Movement assessments are used to identify any faulty or compensatory movement patterns that are occurring. Dysfunctional movement patterns if not identified and corrected can lead to non-contact or overuse injuries and decreased performance ability.
Corrective Exercise Programing: Corrective exercises are used once a movement assessment is completed to correct the dysfunctional movement pattern(s) that were identified.
Recovery program design and implementation: Recovery is the most important part of an athlete’s workout. Without proper recovery strategies the body will not adapt appropriately to the imposed demands of the workout. We offer soft tissue work (manual therapy, percussion/vibration, IASTM), nutritional consultations and coming soon compression therapy.
Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization: IASTM is a popular treatment for myofascial restriction. IASTM uses specially designed instruments to provide a mobilizing effect to scar tissue and myofascial adhesions.