It takes a team to care for athletes' health

By Darla Brown

For an athlete, maintaining a body in tip-top shape is more than a desire, it’s a livelihood. And in order to succeed in such a competitive career, a cadre of dedicated and experienced health professionals is required.

Although the history of sports medicine can be traced back to Galen, the ancient Greek doctor who cared for Roman gladiators, the American Board of Medical Specialties did not recognize this as a specialized field of medicine until 1989. Now, the team of experts who populate sports medicine encompasses specialized physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers, and physiologists, interacting with the athlete and coach as well as with the parents and agents.

Members of this dedicated sports medicine team are on the sidelines, in the gyms, in the clinics, and in the hospitals, ready to provide the assistance necessary to ensure that athletes’ injuries are prevented, minimized, or appropriately treated. Furthermore, their presence means that athletes are in tip-top shape before they return to their profession or recreation.
The Medical School’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery provides sports medicine care to athletes of all talents and types, from junior high school students to professional athletes.

Tom Clanton, M.D., professor and holder of the Edward T. Smith, M.D. Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery, has led the Medical School’s efforts in bringing a specialized medical team to sports teams. Dr. Clanton serves as team physician for Rice University’s sports teams, including football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. In addition, he is a team physician for the Houston Rockets and the Houston Texans.

“Sports participation naturally involves exposure to injury – we are trying to prevent that and promote quick recovery in a nonoperative way. Unfortunately, structural damage may require surgical intervention, and we focus on minimally invasive intervention when this is possible,” says Dr. Clanton, who specializes in the problems of the lower extremities – knee, foot, and ankle.

Dr. Clanton developed an affinity for sports as a college athlete, playing football at Rice. He began work with Rice in 1982 and became the co-medical director of the Rice Owls in 1995 with his friend and then partner, Leland Winston.

“Allen Eggert was my athletic trainer when I played at Rice, and I learned a great deal from him and from Dr. Ed Smith, the team physician,” Dr. Clanton says. It was Dr. Smith, whose endowed chair Dr. Clanton now holds, who stimulated Dr. Clanton’s interest in sports medicine. Dr. Smith was the founder of the orthopaedic residency program at Hermann Hospital.

“I went to the Air Force Academy to become an astronaut, but I had a back problem and transferred to Rice. It was Dr. Smith who evaluated me and took care of it. Things have come full circle now that I hold the Smith chair,” Dr. Clanton recalls, who adds that Dr. Smith is considered the father of sports medicine in Texas.

Dr. Clanton’s association with the Rockets and the Texans began about five years ago as the result of marketing initiatives by Memorial Hermann Healthcare System with the professional teams.

“After I had helped put a proposal together for the medical team, Kevin Bastin, the head athletic trainer with the Texans, called and asked if I would be one of the assistant team physicians working with Dr. Walt Lowe, who was head of sports medicine at Baylor and Methodist at the time,” he explains.

“With the Rockets, I had known the head athletic trainer, Keith Jones, when I was a resident in San Antonio and covered Holmes High School, and he was the student trainer then,” he says.

Caring for professional and college athletes often takes Dr. Clanton away from his clinical offices in the UT Physicians building and in the Memorial Hermann Plaza Building to see athletes in the training room, or at various athletic venues.