Pediatric Sports Medicine

Pediatric sports medicine treats children who become injured during physical activity. If your child sustains an injury during sports or another type of physical activity, they might benefit from seeing a pediatric sports medicine provider for treatment. While some sports medicine providers work with professional athletes, some treat children and teens who have injuries due to physical activities. From injury recovery to maintaining sports performance to injury prevention, we handle it all.

While there are many facilities that treat orthopedic sports-related and soft tissue (tissues that connect, support, or surround other structures and organs of the body) injuries, few have the pediatric services needed to meet the needs of children and adolescents, such as pediatrics-trained providers, physial therapists, and anesthesia professionals. Children who have disabilities or complex medical conditions can have sports-related or soft tissue injuries too.

Even fewer facilities are equipped like Gillette to meet the needs of children who have disabilities or complex medical conditions. 

To better serve your child’s needs, Gillette has a team of pediatric specialists trained specifically in sports medicine. Our team includes pediatric primary care sports medicine providers (Natalie Stork, MD, April Benoit, PNP, and Angie Drummond, PNP) and orthopedic surgeons. Our surgical and complex sports medicine team is comprised of Trent Cooper, DO,  Marc Tompkins, MD, and Angie Drummond, PNP, who have expertise in treating sports medicine conditions in children who have disabilities and complex conditions which may need surgery.

Sports injuries can have causes such as trauma, overuse, an imbalance of strength or joint range of motion, or pre-existing conditions. Our sports medicine experts understand underlying causes and can determine the best treatments for the following conditions:

• Upper and lower extremity injuries/pain
• ACL, PCL, MCL, and LCL tears
• Tibial spine/eminence fracture
• Discoid meniscus
• Meniscus injury
• Patellar instability/dislocation
• Patellofemoral pain
• Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD)
• Cartilage injuries and defects
• Shoulder instability/pain

As a children's hospital, you can count on Gillette Children's to bring together services in a way that is both comprehensive and convenient. If your child has a sports-related or soft tissue injury, we’ll help you coordinate the services and specialties you need. For comprehensive sports injury treatment, your family might work with experts in:

• Child life.
• Nursing.
• Orthotics, Prosthetics and Seating.
• Occupational therapy.
• Orthopedics.
• Physical therapy.
• Radiology and imaging.
• Rehabilitation medicine.
• Rehabilitation therapies.
• Social work.
• Therapeutic recreation.