Greater Cincinnati's First High School Athlete Injury-Prevention Program Analyzes Trends, Diagnoses Causes, Drives Prevention in Northern Kentucky

St. Elizabeth, OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine partner to keep student athletes on the field

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Feb 05, 2019, 09:30 ET

EDGEWOOD, Ky., Feb. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Orthopaedic Institute at St. Elizabeth, a partnership between St. Elizabeth Healthcare, St. Elizabeth Physicians and OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, has launched an injury prevention program, the region's first data driven database of injuries sustained by high school student athletes that can be broken down by school, team, sport and gender. The data will help athletic trainers develop programs to stop similar injuries before they happen.

As injuries occur, athletic trainers – provided at no cost by St. Elizabeth and stationed at 23 participating high schools across Campbell, Kenton, Grant and Boone County – input the data into the program. At each sports season's end, they analyze the data to identify trends and determine causes of injuries.

"By doing extensive data analyses now, we are improving outcomes and preventing injuries for our student athletes in the near future," said Dr. Michael Miller, Medical Director, of St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine. "Our athletic trainers are an extension of St. Elizabeth; by being 'right here' in the schools, they are helping to keep our young athletes out of the hospital and in the game."

"Our injury prevention program is an example of organizations partnering together to build a healthy community by providing the highest quality of care at the most personalized level for our student athletes," said Dr. Adam V. Metzler, orthopaedic surgeon, from OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. "Real, localized data is invaluable to creating programs that work – and that's exactly what we have at our fingertips."

The student athlete injury data will only be accessible to the Orthopaedic Institute's medical personnel.

The injury prevention program is powered by Epic, which runs other patient record systems, such as MyChart.

St. Elizabeth and OrthoCincy introduced the program at Ryle High School and Highlands High School. The results inspired the expansion of the data collection program. Currently, St. Elizabeth's athletic trainers are analyzing 2018-19 fall sports data.

"You can't play a game without a solid offense and defense, but the health and safety of our athletes requires being on the offense at all times, and that's exactly what this program did for us," said Jim Demler, athletic director at Ryle High School. "We look forward to continuing to work with St. Elizabeth's athletic trainers in future seasons to ensure our athletes receive the highest quality of care possible."

About OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine
OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine is the largest independent orthopaedic and sports medicine practice in Greater Cincinnati with 33 physicians at 12 locations in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine participates in the Orthopaedic Institute at St. Elizabeth. For more information about OrthoCincy, visit orthocincy.com.

About St. Elizabeth Healthcare
St. Elizabeth Healthcare operates five facilities throughout Northern Kentucky and more than 115 primary care and specialty office locations in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. St. Elizabeth is sponsored by the Diocese of Covington and is a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. St. Elizabeth is a mission-based organization committed to improving the health of the communities it serves, providing more than $100 million in uncompensated care and benefit to the community in 2016. For more information, visit stelizabeth.com.

Contact: Guy Karrick, 859-486-3944, [email protected]

SOURCE St. Elizabeth Healthcare